


Finding Yourself

by ju0i8hyzy



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Aura - Freeform, Burst - Freeform, F/M, Fusion, Mega Evolution, Team Rocket - Freeform, new league, new region
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 01:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1587206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ju0i8hyzy/pseuds/ju0i8hyzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ash has been accepted to journey to the Tajon region, a region where only the strongest trainers are allowed to challenge. But just because he's far from home, doesn't mean the threats change. Team Rocket has invaded Tajon and is plotting their worst scheme yet. Will Ash be able to save the world from Team Rocket and their new executive 'Pearl' ?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. VS Rocket Grunts

Ash’s POV

Ash steps off the boat as he arrives at a new region, a new challenge. Just weeks after the Unova pokemon league, he received a message from the Tajon Region. It invited him and any friends he wanted to bring along to the region to compete in their league. Their league had different rules than any of the other leagues he had gone to, with him not taking part in a tournament, and immediately being able to challenge the Elite Four after beating all 8 Gyms. 

"We're finally here, eh Ash?" A voice says shaking Ash from his thoughts.

Ash turn around to see all of my friends that he decided to bring along. He of course decided to bring along his longest traveling mate, Brock, who is the one that speaks up. Then there’s May and Dawn. They both have already won the Grand Festival in their own regions, so they thought it would be fun to travel with him again. Max had started his own pokemon journey, so he couldn’t come. Then there was Gary. Despite their old rivalry, Gary asked to come along due to the fact that this is the only region that has all known pokemon living on it together in peace.Too bad Cilan and Iris couldn’t come, it would have been nice to introduce them to my other friends. Misty also couldn’t come along. It just doesn’t feel right to Ash to go on this big adventure without her. But when he had called the Cerulean Gym, her sisters said that she had already left for a new journey.

“Yea. We’ve finally reached Polaris town.” Ash announced to his friends.

“Finally, that boat ride took forever.” Gary stated.

“So where should we go first?” May asked.

“The message I got said go to Professor Osage, so I think that we should go there first.” Ash stated.

“Well then let’s go!” Dawn cheered, as she started running... in the wrong direction.

“Dawn! The lab’s this way!” Brock shouted.

“I knew that...” Dawn said, walking back looking ashamed.

“Well, now lets go.” Ash said.

“Hey, Ash” Gary said, “What pokemon did you bring?”

“Well, I obviously took Pikachu.” Ash said, “Besides him, I brought my Dewott, Buizel, Heracross, Sceptile, and Charizard.”

“Those are some of your strongest pokemon,” May stated “Are you sure that you should use them this early on?”

“Remember May.” Brock said “Only the strongest of trainers are invited to participate in this league. Ash has to bring his A-game if he wants to make the cut.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I ran into some of my old rivals out here.” Ash said.

“Hey Ash, speaking of rivals, you wanna have a battle for old times sake?” Gary asked.

“Sure thing” I said.

“I’ll referee when we get to Professor Osage’s lab.” Brock says.

“Well we’re here, so how about you guys go out back and I’ll tell him we’re here and about to have a quick battle?” I asked

“Sure.” They all say as they walk into the back as Ash steps towards the door.

The quick opening of the door before Ash gets to it causes him to run into the person that was exiting the lab and makes him fall down.

“Sorry about that.” Ash says before getting up. He can’t see very well, due to dirt getting in his eyes when he fell, but he can easily see the person tense up at the sound of his voice before running away.

“That was odd.” Ash said before rubbing the dirt out of his eyes and turning around. But he can’t even see the person. “Did you get a good look at them, Pikachu?”

“Pi chu, pika. (not really)” Pikachu answers, although it looks as if hes avoiding looking at Ash and has a grin on his face.

Thinking nothing of it, Ash walks into the lab. “Hello? Professor Osage?” He calls out.

“Help!” A cry comes from the back room. Ash rushes to the back to see an aging man, most likely Prof. Osage, and two men in black uniforms, one with a Drapion and Beedrill next to him, and one with an Absol and Shiftry next to him.

“Stop right there!” Ash said. ‘Wait a second, I know that uniform.’ “You’re Team Rocket aren’t you.”

“My, my. It seems we're kinda famous, now aren’t we.” The first grunt says.

“Beat it kid, this doesn’t concern you.” the second one says.

“Please. Help” Prof. Osage says.

‘Shit, these aren’t like Jessie and James. They obviously mean business.’ Ash thought.

Before he could react, A voice from behind him speaks.

“I got this Ash.” The person said. “Gyarados, Hyper Beam. Tentacruel, Hydro pump.”

Before Ash can even turn around to see who was talking to him, the two beams fly past him and hit their targets, knocking out the Beedrill and the Shiftry.

‘They were knocked out in one attack! Those are some strong pokemon.’ Ash thought.

“I hope you can handle the rest.” the person said. “Gotta catch ya later!” the person says running off.

“Wait!” Ash shouts, but as he turns around, the person’s no longer there. ‘How do they know me?’ he thinks, before remembering the situation at hand. 

“Damn it. That kid just knocked out two of our pokemon. Grr.. Drapion Attack! Crunch!” The first grunt yelled.

“Pikachu, Volt Tackle!” Ash says. 

Pikachu barely dodges the lunging Drapion and charges at him with an aura of lightning around him.

“Grab him.” the grunt says.

Ash isn’t able to react in time and Drapion dodges and grabs Pikachu around the waist.

“God damn it.” Ash says taking out another pokeball. “Heracross, go! Megahorn Drapion!”

“Absol! Sucker Punch!” the other grunt shouts

“What!?” Ash shouts as Absol appears behind Heracross and hits it in the back. Luckily, Heracross is strong to Dark types.

“Pikachu! Break out with a Thunder attack!” Ash said.  
Pikachu unleashes a powerful thunder attack, Knocking out the Drapion.

“We have to get out of here. He’s too strong.” the second grunt said.

“Grr, fine” the first grunt said

The two grunts quickly escape through an open window.

“Are you ok?” Ash asks the Professor.

“I’m fine. So you must be Ash?” Prof. Osage presumed. “When i told the girl that was in here before you that were coming, she literally bolted. I hadn’t even given her her pokedex yet.”

“I can go and give it to her if you want.” Ash suggests. “But who was that?”

“You mean you don’t know her?” Osage asks.

“She sounded familiar, but I wasn’t able to get a good look at her.” Ash admitted.

“Well, her name is...” Osage said.

\---------------------------------------------------  
?’s POV

She’s been running for awhile, trying to get to the next town. Or so she’s been telling herself.

‘I can’t believe he’s here.’ she thinks. ‘actually, I can. This place is made for strong trainers like him.’

She reaches into her pocket saying, “Well now, I’m gonna do the...” She realizes that in her haste, she hadn’t grabbed the badge case and pokedex that she needed to compete in the league here.

“Shit. And knowing Ash, he probably suggested that he take it to me, even if he didn't notice it was me.” She sighed. “Well, so much for my alone journey.” though on the inside she knew i would be more fun with Ash and who ever he has coming along with him.

“Well I’ll wait for him in the next city.” She said. “Look out Tajon.”

“Misty’s comin’”


	2. VS Gary

Chapter 2 

“Misty!?!?” Ash shouted. He couldn’t believe it. Misty was here. In Tajon. Why had she just ran off? Didn’t she want to travel with them?

“I’ll take it you do know her then.” Osage said reaching behind him to the desk. “then can you please bring this pokedex and Badge case to her? She's going to need it if she wants to compete.”

“Wait, Misty’s competing?” Ash asked. 

“Yes. Her time in the Cerulean City gym has greatly increased her skills. she single handedly made her gym the most difficult and feared of the gyms, to such a degree that the Viridian Gym leader just left the region. nobody knows what happened to him.” Osage says.

“I didn’t know she had gotten so good.” Ash said. 

“Hey Ash! Is everything ok in here?” Brock asked as he and the rest of Ash’s companions walked into the lab.

“There was a bit of a problem.” Ash says as he explains what happened with Team Rocket and Misty.

“Well this is an interesting turn of events.” Brock said.

“Yea. I would’ve never have guessed that Team Rocket would be here.” Gary said.

“Why aren’t you surprised about Misty?” Ash asked.

All of Ash’s friends perk up at this, seeming to be hiding something.

“Wait. You all knew?” Ash asked. Why wouldn’t they have told him that Misty was here if they knew?

“Sorry Ash. She wanted it to be a surprise. She was going to shock you by becoming the champion before you got there. But I guess that’s not gonna happen.” May revealed.

“Wait. Even Dawn knew? You never even met her.” Ash said.

“Well after the Grand Festival, I went to visit Brock. Misty happened to be visiting at the moment. She’s a very nice person.” Dawn revealed.

“But enough of this for now.” Gary said “Aren't we gonna have a battle?”  
“Fine. Come on guys. Lets go out back.” Ash said.

“Give me a second guys.” Brock says.

“Ok. Come on guys.” Ash says.

“So Misty forgot what she needs to compete?” Brock said turning towards Osage. 

“Yes. I have it right here. Why do you ask?” Osage answers.

“Because I’m going to be the one bring her her badge case.” Brock says. “She said she wanted to do a solo journey, and Ash will insist on going with her.”

“Fine. Here you are.” Osage said handing him the pokedex and badge case.

“Thank you.” Brock said walking out and to the back where Ash and Gary had set up, waiting for him to referee.

“Its about time Brock. What were you doing in there?” Ash asked.

“I was asking Osage if he had any tips on the new pokemon out here.” Brock answered thinking of a quick excuse.

“Are you ready Ash?” Gary said.

“This will be a six on six bat..” Brock started before being interrupted by Ash.

“Actually, could we do a four on four? I haven’t healed since Team Rocket attacked.” Ash revealed.

“Ok. This will be a four on four battle between Gary and Ash. Substitutions are allowed. A victor will be determined when all of one person's pokemon are defeated.” Brock said. “And, begin.”

“Go, Arcanine!” Gary said.

“Go Dewott!” Ash said.

“Fire Spin! Keep him from moving!” Gary shouted.

Almost instantly, a spiral of fire shot out from Arcanine, surrounding Dewott, not allowing him to move.

“Aqua Jet out of there, Dewott!” Ash cried.  
Immediately, Dewott shoots up out of the spiral, covered in water and directs himself towards Arcanine.

“Now, change into Razor Shell!” Ash said.

The water from around Dewott disappears as he reaches to his sides, grabbing the dual scallops on his sides and extending them like blades.

“Dodge using Extremespeed!” Gary says.

With incredible speed, Arcanine bolts in a different direction, making Dewott slash at nothing but air.

“Swords dance!” Ash cries.

Using his already extended scallops, Dewott does a short dance, greatly increases his attack power.

“Arcanine! We have to finish this! Flare Blitz!” Gary shouted.

With that said, Gary’s Arcanine surrounded itself with fire and charged at Dewott.

“Quick! Water Sport!” Ash rushes.

Dewott quickly soaks himself with water just before Arcanine makes contact. The power of Flare Blitz is greatly decreased, causing less damage to both pokemon.

“Now! Revenge!” Ash shouts.

Because of Swords Dance and being hit by Flare Blitz, the power of revenge is greatly increased. One hit from Revenge and Arcanine was out for the count.

“Arcanine is unable to battle. Dewott wins.” Brock announces.

“Arcanine, Return. Good job Ash.” Gary said grabbing a pokeball, “But lets see you deal with this!” 

As he throws the pokeball, Electivire pops out.

“Dewott, return!” Ash says taking out a new pokeball. “Go, Sceptile!”

“Electivire, Iron Tail!” Gary said.

Electivire’s tail glows white as he jumps into the air ready to swing it at Sceptile.

“Intercept it with Slam!” Ash says.

Sceptile’s tail also glows white as he swings it towards Electivire’s tail. They both hit, causing a stalemate.

“Grab his tail!” Gary shouts.

Immediately, Electivire stops Iron Tail and wraps his dual tails around Sceptile’s.

“Oh no!” Ash shouts.

“Now! Fire punch!” Gary shouts.

Sceptile is it in the back with a super effective attack. Just then Electivire, releases sceptile and moves to a farther distance.

“Sceptile! Synthesis!” Ash shouts.

As he says that, Sceptile glows a faint green as he is healed from the sun.

“Oh no you don’t. Rain Dance.” Gary says.

With that said, Electivire summons a rain storm, stopping Sceptile from being able to heal.

“Now, Thundershock!” Gary said.

Despite it being ineffective against Sceptile, Thundershock is enough to defeat the already hurt pokemon.

“Sceptile is unable to battle, Electivire wins.” Brock announces.

“Good job, Sceptile.” Ash said. “You’ve made a mistake, Gary.”

“How so?” Gary asks.

“You’ll see.” Ash says. “Go, Buizel.”

“It seems like you’re the one that made the mistake.” Gary says. “Electivire, Thunderbolt!”

“Dodge it!” Ash shouts.

With amazing speed, Buizel easily dodges the attack.

“What?!” Gary said shocked.

“Buizel’s ability is Swift Swim, making him more than fast enough for your Electivire.” Ash reveals.

“Well the rain can help me too.” Gary said smirking. “Thunder!”

With the rain, Thunder becomes much more accurate, streamlining directly towards Buizel.

“Buizel! Hydro Countershield!” Ash said.

With that said, Buizel uses his normal Countershield, but using Hydro Pump instead of Water Gun. The Thunder makes contact with the Hydro Countershield, electrifying it.

“Now, fire!” Ash said.

Now, Buizel gets back up and fires the electrified Hydro Pump at Electivire. Unfortunately for Gary, his Electivire has the Vital Spirit ability, and is hit by the combined attack, powered up by the rain. He is immediately knocked out.

“Electivire is unable to battle, Buizel wins.” Brock announces.

“Go Umbreon!” Gary says.

“Buizel, retu..” Ash starts.

“Pursuit!” Gary says.

With the power up from being returned, Pursuit is able to knock out Buizel.

“Grr.” Ash says as the rain stops. “Go, Dewott!”

“Umbreon, use Confuse Ray.” Gary says.

As said, a beam of light comes from Umbreon, confusing Dewott.

“Dewott! Snap out of it!” Ash shouts. “Use Razor Shell.”

At first, it seems as if Dewott is going to be able to attack successfully, but he trips over his feet, causing the scallop to fall out of his hands and hit on top of the head.

“Great. Now! Use Psychic.” Gary says

Umbreon uses its Psychic attack to pick up the extended scallop and slash at Dewott with it. This is too much for Dewott, causing him to faint.

“Dewott is unable to battle, Umbreon wins.” Brock announces.

“Go! Charizard!” Ash shouted, throwing out his last pokemon.

“Finally, Saving the best for last I see. This’ll be over soon.” Gary says. “Umbreon. Last Resort.”

Umbreon charges at Charizard, stars surrounding it. When it makes contact, It easily puts Charizard off balance.

“Grab him and use Seismic Toss!” Ash calls.

As soon as contact was made, Charizard grabbed Umbreon, takes him to the sky, and slams him into the ground on the way down.

“Now, Dragonbreath.” Ash says.

Before Umbreon can even get up, Charizard hits it with a point blank Dragonbreath. This is too much for Umbreon, causing her to faint.

“Umbreon is unable to battle. Charizard wins.” Brock announces. “This is the last battle. Begin!”

“Go! Blastoise!” Gary says. “Doesn’t this bring you back?” 

“Sure does. And its gonna end the same way.” Ash said smirking.

“Thats what you think.” Gary says. “Blastoise! Use Hydro Pump!”

“Dragon Pulse!” Ash shouted.

The two moves collided, surrounding the field in a thick smoke.

“Go through it and use Slash!” Ash shouts.

“There’s no way Charizard could find his way through that thick smoke.” Gary said.

“Think again, Gary” Ash said as Blastoise flys through the smoke and lands next to Gary.

“But how?” Gary says as Blastoise gets up, obviously winded.  
“Charizards been training in Charicific Valley. There’s normally a lot of smoke there, so he needed to learn to see through that.” Ash revealed.

“Time to finish this. Blastoise, Hydro Cannon!” Gary shouted.

Blastoise stands firm and then launches to very high pressure bursts of water at Charizard tiring him in the process.

“Match that Charizard! Blast..” Ash starts before he gets a headache.

‘Chosen One!’ A voice in his head shouts.

The Hydro Cannon hits it mark, knocking Charizard right next to Ash. Charizard trys to get up, but is unsuccessful.

“Its ok, Charizard. You did your best.” Ash says putting a hand on Charizard.

“Charizard is unable to batt...” Brock starts before Charizard starts glowing blue.

“What’s happening?” Dawn asks.

Charizard then gets up and roars, as if nothing had happened to him.

“But how?” May says surprised.

“Well, where were we?” Ash says, smirking at his ‘luck’. “Oh yea! Charizard! Blast Burn!”

Charizard charges up a giant ball of fire in his mouth, his tail flame growing immensely. He then releases it, souring directly towards Blastoise.

“Dodge it!” Gary shouts.

Blastoise tries, but is too fatigued to move away. The Blast Burn hits, exploding on contact. When the smoke clears, Blastoise is defeated.

“Err, nevermind. Blastoise is unable to battle. Charizard wins. The winner is Ash!” Brock announces.

“Heheh. told you it would be the same Gar..” Ash says as he passes out.

“Ash!” Dawn shouted.

“Is he ok?” May asked her and Dawn rush off the sidelines to Brock who was taking care of him.  
“He’ll be fine. He just passed out.” Brock revealed.

“But why?” Dawn asked.

“We have no idea.” Gary says. “We should bring him inside.” 

“Good idea.” Brock says picking Ash up. ‘I think i might have some idea.’ he thinks looking over to May, noticing she’s looking at him questioningly.

\---------------------------  
???’s view

“Hey boss.” the radio on his desk said.

“What is it?” the man said.

“We think we’ve found him.” the radio replied.

“Good. Keep an eye on him at all times.” he said.

“Yes sir, Giovanni sir.” the radio replied.

Giovanni leaned back in his chair, content with the news he has received. “Everything is going according to plan. Soon I will be unstoppable, and Team Rocket will take over the world.”


	3. VS Pearl

Chapter 3 

“Will he be ok?” Gary asked as they had brought Ash back into the lab. 

“He’ll be fine. He’s just exhausted.” Osage revealed.

“But how?” Dawn asked. “They were just having a Pokemon battle.”

“Hey Brock.” May said.

“Yes May?” Brock said.

“Do you think it might be his, special gift?” May asked.

“Special gift?” Gary asks.

“I was thinking the exact same thing May.” Brock revealed.

“Is anyone else confused?” Dawn asked.

“I’ll explain. Ash has a special power. We’ve never seen him use it, but we’ve heard that with the right trigger and practice, he could activate it.” Brock announced.

“What's this special power?” Gary asked. 

“It’s the manipulation of aura.” May revealed.

“Ash supposedly has the same aura as Sir Aaron, one of the world’s most powerful aura users.” Brock added.

“So when his Charizard glowed blue,...” Gary said.

“Ash was pumping his own aura into him.” Brock finished.

“That cheater!” Gary shouted.

“Calm down Gary.” May said. “He probably had no idea he was doing it.”

“Besides, it was just a friendly battle.” Dawn said.

“One second guys, I’ve gotta go and do something.” Brock says.

“Ok.” Gary says, still mad that his victory was ripped from him.  
“See ya Brock.” May said.

Brock takes out his pokegear and dials Misty.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
??? POV

‘That had to be him!’ he said. ‘That had to be the Chosen One.’ He had sensed him. Now all he had to do was find him.

As he ran through the forest at very high speeds, he picked up on a conversation with his acute hearing. “What’s wrong? ….. Ash passed out! I’ll be right there.”

Ash? That was the name of the Chosen One! Running as fast as possible to the noise, he ends up on a path, right in front of a surprised redhead.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - -   
Misty POV

Receiving a call on her pokegear, she picks it up.

“Hey Brock.” Misty said.

“Misty, we have a problem.” Brock said.

“What’s wrong?” Misty asked.

“Ash is unconscious.” Brock said.

“Ash passed out! I’ll be right there.” Misty said.

Misty immediately turned around ready to run Back to Polaris Town when out of the forest runs a Lucario.

‘Halt’ A voice in her head said.

“Who was that?” Misty said.

‘How about you look in front of you?’ the voice said.

“You’re in my head?” Misty said.

‘Yes. Unless you normally hear voices in your head.’ the Lucario said.  
“I don’t have time for this. Ash is in trouble. I need to get there right away.” Misty said.

“Ahh but that's exactly why I’m stopping you.” the Lucario said, this time not using telepathy.

“Why?” Misty asked.

“I need you to bring me to the Chosen One.” the Lucario revealed.

‘Chosen One. I haven’t heard that name since the Orange Islands.’ Misty thought.

“I wouldn’t have expected you to. The Shamouti Islands are the only place that really have a legend tied to them.” the Lucario said smirking.

“Don’t read my thoughts!” Misty shouted.

“Then don’t make it so easy.” Lucario said. 

“How am I supposed to trust you?” Misty said. “I don’t even know your name.”

“Well, Misty. My name is Jakaura.” Jakaura said.

“That doesn’t change anything.” Misty said running past him.

“He’s not gonna wake up.” Jakaura said calmly.

“What?” Misty said stopping and turning around.

“I said that he won't wake up.” Jakaura repeated.

“I heard you. But how could you know?” Misty asked.

“He used too much aura. He doesn’t have enough in his reserves, so he will be in a comatose state until he gets more. It will take almost 3 months for him to gain enough to break him out of that state.” Jakaura revealed.

“Ash can use aura?” Misty asked shocked.

“Yes. If you don’t believe me, then just ask Brock.” Jakaura said.

“Fine. I will.” She said taking out her pokegear. “Brock, Can Ash use aura?”

“Wait, how’d you find out?” Brock asked very surprised.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Bye Brock.” Misty said.

“Wait ho..” Brock started before Misty hung up.

“I told you.” Jakaura said.

“Fine.” Misty said. “How do we wake him up?”

“You bring me along.” Jakaura said.

“How can I trust you?” Misty said. 

“I’m your last hope.” Jakaura said with a smirk.

“Fine. Lets get a move on.” She said starting to run.

“I should be saying that to you.” He said catching up in a moment, grabbing her, putting her on his back, and running off towards the lab.

In no time flat, they were in front of the lab.

“Wait, if you knew where he was, why didn’t you go here in the first place?” Misty asked.

“It's easier for me to get in to see him if I have an escort.” Jakaura revealed.

“Fine. Let’s just get inside.” Misty said walking through the door.

“Misty, you never answered my question.” Brock said with a suspicious look on his face.

“Allow me to answer that.” Jakaura said as they walked in.

“A talking Lucario.” Gary said.

“My name’s Jakaura, not talking Lucario.” Jakaura said. “Now can I actually say something without being interrupted?”

“Go ahead and speak.” Gary said, caught off guard.

“The simple answer, Brock, is that I told her.” Jakaura revealed.

“But how did you know?” May asked.

“That’s how I tracked him. Now if you excuse me, I have a Chosen one to wake up.” Jakaura said, walking past them to where Ash laid on the bed.

“Chosen One?” Dawn asked.

“Do you guys remember the weird weather that had happened in Kanto 4 years ago?” Misty asked.

“Yea, it was caused by the legendary birds fighting. Apparently this one boy stopped them.” May said remembering the news on it reaching out to Hoenn.

“Wait you don’t mean to say..?” Dawn started.

“Yes. Ash was the one to stop them. And due to the prophecy that they had, we realized he was the Chosen One.” Misty revealed.

“Well, lets go and see how they’re doing in there.” Brock said.

As the walk into the room, the see Jakaura crouched over Ash, with Ash enveloped in the same glow as Charizard was.

“Is he going to be ok?” May asked.

“He’ll be fine.” Jakaura says. “He just used too much of his aura.”

“So why did you need to find Ash?” Gary asked.

“To teach him how to use it responsibly.” Jakaura said.

“Why does he need to learn to use aura?” Brock asked.

“Trust me. He will.” Jakaura said.

Just then, an explosion is heard from outside.

“All of you, get outside and check on that, I have to keep this up.” Jakaura said.

“Fine. Let’s go.” Gary said, taking the lead.

“Wait, Misty.” Jakaura said suddenly.

Misty stopped and turned around. “Yes?”

“If this is Team Rocket, you need to hold them off at all costs.” Jakaura said.  
Instead of asking questions, Misty nods her head and runs outside to help the others.

\-------------------------------------  
Outside the Lab

“Well, well. What do we have here?” A solitary man says outside the lab. “I never expected to see you here.”

“What do you mean?” Dawn asked.

“Its none of your concern.” The man said. “Just give me what I want, and I won’t have to hurt you.”

“Depends, what do you want?” Gary asked.

“I want the Chosen One of course.” the man revealed.

“Who are you and why do you want Ash?” Brock asked.

“Ash is the Chosen One?” the man asked, legitimately shocked.

“Yes, now why do you want him?” May asked.

“Like I would tell people like you these things.” The man said.

“Who’s this guy?” Misty asked walking outside.

“If you all must know, I am known as Pearl.” Pearl said with a smirk, glancing toward Brock and Dawn. “Now, give me Ash.”

“Never.” Dawn said.

“Then you leave me no choice.” Pearl said grabbing his pokeballs. “Go!”

Out of the pokeballs came a Golurk, a Hydreigon, a Scizor, a Toxicroak, a Kangaskhan and, surprisingly, an Electivire.

“Sic ‘em” Pearl said as he stood back, not taking time to actually command his pokemon.

“Go, Steelix!” Brock said, sending him to take on Toxicroak.

“Go, Umbreon!” Gary said, sending her to take on Golurk.

“Go, Corsola!” Misty said, sending her to take on Kangaskhan.

“Go, Glaceon!” May said, sending her to take on Hydreigon.

“Go, Quilava!” Dawn said, sending it to take on Scizor.

“Well, it seems your one short.” Pearl said, smirking. “Electivire, go for the prize.”

“Pika!” Pikachu said jumping in front of the door.

“Well there’s that pesky Pikachu.” Pearl said, “Electivire, you know what to do.”

\---------------  
Inside the house

“Come on!” Jakaura said as explosions rained outside. “WAKE UP!” 

With that shout, Ash’s eyes fly open. “Where am I?” He asks.

“Chosen One!” Jakaura said.

As he said that, an explosion rained from outside.

“What was that!?” Ash asked.

“Your friends are holding off Team Rocket.” Jakaura revealed.

“Well let me go and help them!” Ash said getting up.

“Sit down immediately!” Jakaura ordered.

“No. You can’t stop me.” Ash said walking to the door.

“Well can I at least help you?” Jakara asked.

Ash stops in the doorway.

“Your pokemon are in no condition to fight.” Jakaura revealed.

“So you’ll fight with me?” Ash asked.

“Nope. You will.” Jakaura said smirking.

“What?!” Ash asked.

“It’s the only way to save your friends.” Jakaura said. “Will you do it?”

“But how can I fight pokemon that my friends strongest couldn’t?” Ash asked.

“With aura.” Jakaura said.

“No.” Ash said.

“What?” Jakaura asked.

“I said no. I chose to not follow that path, and I haven’t changed my mind.” Ash said.

“The whole worlds out there is going to need you to follow this.” Jakaura said. “Right now, your friends are being defeated. they need you. Brock, Dawn, May, Gary, and Misty.”

“Misty?” Ash said.

“Yes.” Jakaura said, smirking. He knew that would get him.

“Fine.” Ash said.

“I hadn't expected to start your aura training like this, but practice does make perfect.” Jakaura said, pumping more of his aura into Ash.

Ash couldn’t believe the power that was coursing through him. It was too much. he couldn’t control it. He felt another presence joining his, supporting him.

“Well, How about we get out there and beat him?” Ash asked himself, with a grin on his face, literally glowing with aura.

\---------------------------  
Outside the lab

Each and everyone of them had been defeated. They didn’t stand a chance against Pearl’s pokemon.

“I’ll tell you again. Get the Chosen One.” Pearl asked.

“You rang?” Ash said, leaning against the doorway.

“Well, well Ash. Come to finally give yourself up?” Pearl asked.  
“Not quite. I’m here to get you out of here.” Ash said.

“Ha! If all of your friends couldn’t make a dent, how do you think you could?” Pearl asked.

“Just a hunch.” Ash said grinning cockily.

“Well then, send out your pokemon.” Pearl asked.

“I”m not gonna need any to beat your pokemon.” Ash said.

“What?” Pearl asked, astonished.

“You heard me.” Ash said, still with his cocky grin.

“If you insist.” Pearl said. “Golurk, get him, but don’t do too much damage, we still need him in one piece.”

As the Golurk starts to run at Ash, Misty shouts, “Ash! NO!”

Golurk charges at Ash, but one second later Ash appears behind the Golurk, and the Golurk falls onto the ground.

“What?: Brock asks.

“What?” May asks.

“What the fuck was that!?!” Gary asked.

“Bullet punch.” Pearl said. “So your harnessing aura?”

“About time you figured out.” Ash said.

“Well then I don’t need to hold back.” Pearl said. “Hydreigon, Scizor, Toxicroak, Kangaskhan, attack all at once!”

As they charge at him, Ash just stands there calmly. But right before they are about to pounce on him, He is launched into the air, leaving Jakaura on the ground as they dogpile him. Almost immediately afterwards, And explosion of aura erupts from the pile, knocking out all of the attacking pokemon. Jakaura takes this opportunity and converts back into aura and rushes back up to Ash, who has just started his descent.

As Ash lands, Pearl starts talking. “Well, no matter. I still have Electivire. Now! Thunder!”

“Hmph. Predictable.” Ash said as he charges an Aura Sphere.

Just before the Thunder hits, Ash uses Extremespeed to get behind Electivire and launches the Aura Sphere, knocking him out.

“But how?” Pearl asked slowly stepping back before returning his pokemon.

“Way to go Ash!” Brock cheered.

‘That was incredible! But I can’t see Ash actually doing that to any pokemon.’ Misty thought.

“And now, it’s your turn.” ‘Ash’ said.

Just then Misty came to a sudden realization. “Jakaura, no!”

“Why not?” Jakaura said through Ash’s body. “He is evil. He must be stopped.” Suddenly, he charges up a Force Palm. “For good.”

“Nobody deserves this.” Misty said. “Not even him.”

“You can’t stop me woman!” Jakaura said running full speed towards Pearl.

“Ash! Stop him!” Misty shouts.

As soon as this is said, Ash’s body comes to a halt, as Ash screams “STOP! I WON’T LET YOU CONTROL ME ANY LONGER!” Ash uses all of his energy to push Jakaura out of his body.

“Quickly. Get out.” Ash says to Pearl.

Taking this chance, Pearl runs off in the direction he came from.

“Why did you let him go?” Jakaura asked, obviously furious that Ash was able to just push him out like that.

“Because he deserved it. The better question is, why did you?” Ash asked.

“What?” Jakaura said.

“You could have gotten him when you left my body.” Ash revealed. “But you didn’t.”

“Grr.” Jakaura said.

“Hehe.” Ash laughed weakly before passing out again.

\--------------------------------------------------------  
Pearl’s POV

“You knew didn’t you?” Pearl said asking Giovanni.

“Knew what?” Giovanni said smirking.

“You knew that I knew them.” Pearl said, getting frustrated. “So why did you send me to attack them!”

“You will not raise your voice to your boss!” Giovanni said. “You joined Team Rocket to get stronger. When I assign a mission, I expect results. Next time, don’t disappoint me.”

“Fine.” Pearl said, walking from his office.


	4. To Aries Town

Chapter 4

Jakaura’s POV

“What happened to him now?” Gary asked.

“Well if you had listened before, you would have realized that he had used too much aura.” Jakaura revealed. “Even I’m feeling winded after that.”

“What the hell Jakaura!?” Misty shouted.

“What?” Jakaura asked.

“You can’t just take control of Ash’s body like that!” Misty said.

“Hey! I just saved your life and you repay me by yelling at me!” Jakaura yelled.

“You almost killed that man!” Misty said. 

“He deserved to die.” Jakaura said. “Team Rocket is full of low life scum. They should not be allowed to live.”

“Everyone deserves to live. Even the most evil people don’t deserve death.” Misty said

“You obviously don’t know how evil people people can be.” Jakaura said. “Come on, lets get Ash back into the house.”

“Fine.” Misty said, helping Jakaura with Ash.

\------  
Ash’s POV

Ash woke up several minutes later.

“Well, well. Look who’s finally decided to wake up?” Misty said. “Hurry up, we have to get started eventually.”

“Oh yea, the league.” Ash said. It had been so hectic, he had almost forgotten.

“Don’t forget Ash, you’re not the only one competing.” Misty said with a wink.

“Its going to be weird.” Ash said.

“Hm?” Misty asked.

“You competing. Whenever we traveled, it was always me doing the badges. But now we both are.” Ash said.

“Yea. Thats one of the reasons that I wanted to travel alone. I felt like it would be a burden.” Misty said.

“I wouldn’t of minded at all. You’re never a burden Misty.” Ash said.

“You always know just what to say, don’t you?” Misty said under her breath, smiling.

“What was that?” Ash asked.

“Nothing. Just get up ok?” Misty said.

“Um, Misty?” Ash said sheepishly.

“What?” Misty asked.

“Can you leave?” Ash asked.

“Why?” Misty asked.

“I... Don’t really have any clothes on.” Ash said.

“Oh..” Misty said, her eyes growing wide as she blushed.

‘Get your mind out of the gutter, ‘Ms. Ketchum’.’ A voice in her head said, obviously chuckling.

“I’m gonna kill that jackal.” Misty said under her breath.

“Hm?” Ash said.

“Oh nothing. Just get dressed and meet us down stairs. We’re all waiting for you.” Misty said.

“Ok.” he said as she left the room.

\---------------------------  
Misty’s POV

“Oh, Jakaura!” Misty said as calmly as possible.

“Yes, Misty.” Jakaura said with a smirk on his face.

“Can I speak to you alone?” Misty asked obviously hiding anger.

“Ok.” Jakaura said as they walked outside.

“Ok. What the fuck was that for?” Misty said.

“What was what for?” Jakaura asked smirking.

“I told you not to read my thoughts.” Misty said. “Especially those.” 

“God, I’ve know you all for less than an hour, yet I already think you should both just admit it.” Jakaura stated.

“Admit what?” Misty asked.

“Go back to what you were just thinking for a few seconds.” Jakaura said smirking.

“I do not like Ash!” Misty shouted, almost too loud.

“Your thoughts don’t say that. All of your friends know it, your brain knows it, just tell him.” Jakaura said.

“This conversation is over.” Misty said, marching back towards the house.

“He did that for you.” Jakaura said.

“What?” Misty said turning around.

“That battle. He did that for you. Well, I did that, but he wanted nothing to do with it until I mentioned you were in trouble.” Jakaura said walking past her into the house. “Just think you should know that.”

“Hey Jakaura.” Misty said, Jakaura turning around. “Thanks.”

Jakaura smirked before walking into the house. Just as they walked in Ash comes running down the lab’s stairs.

“Well, well.” Gary said. “It’s about time you got down here.”

“Well if everyone’s ready, let’s get going.” Brock said.

And with that, they set off towards Aries City for Ash and Misty’s first Gym battle. On the way, Misty and Ash slowly drop back and start chatting.

“So, how’s it been at the gym?” Ash asked.

“It’s been fun. The cleaning and such sucked. But the constant battling was really helpful.” Misty answered.

“Well obviously. If you’re on the same level as me now, it had to have helped.” Ash said.

“Do you really want to go there, Mr. ‘I only got 4 badges from Kanto legitimately’?” Misty retorted.

“What?” Ash said caught off guard.

“Brock gave you the badge because you wouldn’t accept a cheap victory. My sisters gave it to you because you helped the Gym. Erika gave it to you because you helped put out a fire. And Sabrina’s dad gave it to you because Haunter made her laugh.” Misty explained.

“No way.” Ash said.

“Yes way.” Misty said.

“No!” Ash shouted. 

“Yes!” Misty shouted.

“NO! Ash said.

“YES!” Misty said.

‘God, just kiss him already!’ Jakaura said in the back of Misty’s mind.

With Jakaura saying that, Misty realized how close she was to Ash. As soon as she did, she immediately backed up, blushing.

“Besides it doesn’t matter, all the other gyms were battled. so thats like, 36 gyms that I actually beat.” Ash announced.

“Yea.” Misty said.

“What no witty comeback, no ‘Wow, Ash. I didn’t know you knew math.’, no anything?” Ash asked.

“I’m not in the mood.” Misty said.

“Well this is weird.” Ash said.

“If you guys are done doing what ever it is you’re doing back there, can you hurry up?” Gary said. “The city’s just ahead.” 

“Finally. Time to go and challenge that gym.” Ash said.

“Not so fast. First of all, its late. Second of all, I call dibs on the first battle.” Misty said winking.

“Aww.” Ash said feeling bad.

“Let’s just hurry up and get to the Pokemon Center.” Brock said.

\-------------------  
Later that night

Misty gave up. There was no way she was getting any sleep. As she got up, she walked to the balcony of their room. She was surprised to see Ash was still up.

“Hey Ash.” Misty said, causing Ash to jump. “What are you doing up?” 

“Can’t sleep. So much has happened since I came here.” Ash said. “We battle with Team Rocket, the real Team Rocket, not Jessie and James. I passed out after a battle with Gary because I apparently used aura. I almost killed a man, just because he was trying to get me.” Ash says, leaning out over the beam on the balcony. “Luckily there has been one good thing that has come out of this.”

“What’s that?” Misty asked.

“We found you.” Ash said, looking over to her.

“Ash.” Misty said, looking over to him.

“I don’t understand this aura stuff to well. But Team Rocket has gotten much more vicious. Nad theres someone I have to protect. From what I’ve seen, they can protect them self, but I still feel as if i need to do it.”

“Why?” Misty asked.

“Because they have always been there for me. Now I need to be her for them.” Ash said.

Misty could only stand there grinning and staring into his eyes. ‘This is the time. Tell him now.’ She almost dismissed this as Jakaura trying to convince her, but then she realized that those were her own thoughts.

“Ash.” Misty said.

“Yes Misty?” Ash asked.

“I..” Misty started before she heard someone jump down from above.

“Well, well. Look at what we have here. Two teens, at night, all by themselves. The possibilities are endless.” Jakaura said with a big smirk on his face.

“Well, well. What do we have here. Some guy that likes watching two teens, at night, all by themselves. Pervert.” Misty countered.

“Woah, woah, woah. We weren’t doing any of that.” Ash said.

“Yet.” Jakaura said.

“You know what, I don't need this. I’m going to bed. You coming Mist?” Ash asked.

“Woah, inviting a girl to bed with you. How forward.” Jakaura said.

“Nah, I’m gonna stay up a little bit.” Misty said, ignoring Jakaura’s suggestions. “Good night.”

“Night.” Ash said going back.

Misty and Jakaura stood there for awhile before Misty knew for a fact that Ash had fallen asleep.

“You make no sense.” Misty said.

“Oh, I make sense. Just only to myself.” Jakaura said smirking.

“You’ve been pushing for me to admit it to Ash, yet when I’m about to, you just pop out of nowhere and just ruin the moment.” Misty said.

“I need Ash to keep his head for tomorrow.” Jakaura explained. “He needs to focus on that gym battle.”

“Why?” Misty asked.

“You’ll see soon enough.” Jakaura said.

And with that, Misty and Jakaura walk back into the room for some sleep.


	5. VS Mars

Chapter 5

Jakaura’s POV

Jakaura was the first to wake up. “Might as well get everyone else up.” Jakaura said with a smirk.

Jakaura went to everyone’s beds to wake them all up, except Ash.

“Why didn’t you wake up Ash?” May asked.

“Put these on everyone.” Jakaura said, giving them all earplugs.

“I don’t like where this is going.” Dawn said as they all put on the earplugs.

After making sure that they all had their earplugs on, Jakaura starts rubbing her hand spikes together to create a metallic screech, which made Ash wake up, holding his ears in pain.

“What was that for?!” Ash said shouting to compensate for the fact that he couldn’t anything.

“Poor Ash.” Misty said as they took out the ear plugs.

“Jakaura,” Gary said draping an arm around his shoulders. “I like your style.”

“Glad to see somebody does.” Jakaura said, smirking.

“What?” Ash said, causing everyone to laugh.

After they had all gotten ready, they started on their way towards the Gym.

“Finally, I’m gonna get my first Tajon Badge.” Ash said.

“Don’t forget, I got dibs on the first battle.” Misty said.

“Dang.” Ash said.

“Well let’s get in there.” Brock said pushing open the door.

“Well, well. Haven’t had challengers since that one kid passed through here. So who’s here to challenge me?” The leader asked.

“We are.” Misty said.

“Who are you?” Ash asked.

“My name is Mars. Well, who’s going first?” Mars asked.

“I am. My name is Misty.” Misty said.

“Well then, let’s get started.” Mars said, leading them to the battlefield.

“This will be a three on three battle between the challenger Misty and the leader Mars. Let the battle begin.” the referee said.

“Go! Heatmor!” Mars said.

“Go Corsola!” Misty said.

“A wise choice. Being effective on all fronts.” Mars said. “Heatmor! Sunny Day!”

With that Heatmor created artificial sunlight in the gym, increasing his fire attacks.

“Don’t let him take that advantage! Use Power Gem!” Misty said.

Corsola shoots a beam of gems at Heatmor, hitting him directly. It does a lot of damage, but not enough to take him out.

“Sunny Day doesn’t only increase your firepower.” Mars said, smirking. “Use Solarbeam!”

The beam of pure light hits Corsola directly. The 4x super effective attack does a lot of damage, but it seems as she hold on by a thread.

“Corsola return!” Misty shouted, pulling out a different pokeball. “Go Golduck!”

“Psyduck evolved?!” Ash asked.

“Golduck! Use Water Pulse!” Misty said.

Despite getting hit by Power Gem earlier, Heatmor was able to survive getting hit by Water Pulse.

“Take out another one! Solarbeam!” Mars shouted.

Heatmor attempts to do the attack, but fails in the execution do to it being confused. This finally causes Heatmor to faint.

“Heatmor is unable to battle, Golduck is the winner!” the ref said.

“Well, you’re quite the talented trainer. But lets see you take this on! Go Magmortar!” Mars said.

“Golduck! Special Move! Confusing Hydro!” Misty said.

With that said, Golduck shoots out yet another Water Pulse. But in addition to that, Golduck fires a Hydro Pump, the rings of the Water Pulse going around the Hydro Pump.

“It doesn’t matter how strong that is! Evaporate it with Fire Blast!” Mars shouts.

Magmortar fires a very powerful Fire blast directly at the attack, hoping to cancel it.

“Take direct control, Golduck!” Misty said.

With that, Golduck’s eyes glowed a light blue, causing the Confusing Hydro and Fire Blast to glow as well. Just as they are about to make contact, the Confusing Hydro and Fire Blast both veer right, then both go to attack Magmortar. As they hit, Magmortar falls to his knees, obviously winded.

“Now Aqua Tail!” Misty said.

Golduck jumps into the air and brings his tail down onto Magmortar’s head. This is too much for Magmortar, causing him to faint.

“Magmortar is unable to battle, Golduck wins.” the ref said.

Just then, Golduck falls to his knees, obviously in pain.

“What’s wrong Golduck?” Misty asked.

“Ha, It took awhile, but it seems Magmortar’s Flame Body took effect.” Mars said, throwing a pokeball. “ Finish it off, Volcarona! Silver Wind!”

“Dodge it Golduck!” Misty said.

As much as Golduck tried, he couldn’t get the strength to dodge the silver powder. This is too much, causing him to faint. Plus, all of Volcarona’s stats were increases due to Silver Wind’s side effect.

“Golduck is unable to battle, Volcarona is the winner.” the ref said.

“Advantage, Mars.” Mars said cockily.

“I wouldn’t think so.” Misty said. “Corsola, go!”

Out of the pokeball came Corsola, looking much better than when she went in. 

“But how?” Mars asked.

“Corsola has Regenerate as her ability.” Misty revealed. “Now, Power Gem!”

“Quiver Dance!” Mars said.

After using Quiver Dance, Volcarona easily dodges Power Gem.

“Now, Bug Buzz!” Mars said.

The high pitched sound waves are too much for Corsola, causing her to faint.

“Corsola is unable to battle, Volcarona wins.” the ref says.

“Go, Gyarados!” Misty said, throwing out her last pokemon. “Special move! Hydro Twister!”

With that, Gyarados launches a Twister at the in air Volcarona, then moves to the bottom of the Twister and shoots a Hydro Pump along the current. When the attack was finished, Volcarona was very damaged. However, this just activated his Swarm ability.

“Now, to finish this. Signal Beam!” Mars said.

“Hyper Beam!” Misty shouts.

The two beams fire at the same time. At first, it seemed like a stalemate between the two attacks, but soon, Gyarados was pushing Signal Beam back. As soon as Hyper Beam hit, Volcarona was out for the count.

“Volcarona is unable to battle. Gyarados wins. The winner is Misty.” The ref said.

“Woohoo! Good job Misty!” May shouted.

“That was amazing, wasn’t it Ash?” Brock asked.

But Ash wasn’t paying attention to him. He was too distracted with his own thoughts. ‘Misty’s really improved. I knew she had gotten good, but i didn’t think she would be that good.’

“Will the next challenger please step down?” the ref said.

“Wait, how can we battle if Misty just knocked out all of his pokemon?” Ash asked.

“Mars is healing his pokemon at the moment. He should be ready by the time you get down.” the ref revealed.

On his way down, Ash ran into Misty, who was going to take a seat. “That was amazing Misty.”

“Thanks Ash, do your best down there.” Misty said with a smile.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be getting that badge too.” Ash said.

“This will be a three on three battle between the challenger Ash and the leader Mars. Let the battle begin.” the ref said.

“Go, Dewott!” Ash said.

“Go, Heatmor!” Mars said.

“Aqua Jet!” Ash said.

“Slash to counter!” Mars said.

With this said, Dewott covers himself in water and charges at Heatmor, where he is preparing to hit Dewott with a powerful Slash attack.

“Jump out of it!” Ash said.

Immediately, Dewott jumps out of the Aqua Jet, sending the water barreling into Heatmor. Due to Dewott no longer being in the water, his Slash attack failed, and he takes damage.

“Now, Razor Shell!” Ash said.

Now in the air behind Heatmor, Dewott extends his two scallops and charges towards Heatmor, slashing him in the back. This is too much for Heatmor, causing him to faint.

“Heatmor is unable to battle, Dewott wins.” the ref said.

“Go! Magmortar!” Mars shouted. “Thunderpunch!”

“Dodge it.” Ash said.

Despite Ash’s warning, Dewott couldn’t dodge in time. This cause Dewott to faint.

“Dewott is unable to battle. Magmortar wins.” the ref says.

“Go! Buizel!” Ash said. “Hydro Pump!”

“Fire Blast!” Mars said.

The two attacks collided, causing steam to flow through the field. When it settled, the two pokemon were still standing.

“Aqua Jet!” Ash said.

“Flame Charge!” Mars said.

The two pokemon charge at each other, one cloaked in water, the other cloaked in water, the other in fire.

“Put the fire out! Water Gun!” Ash said.

While still charging towards Magmortar, Buizel lets out a Water Gun, putting out the fire around Magmortar. Buizel then slams into Magmortar, causing him to faint. However, Magmortar’s ability kicks in, burning Buizel.

“Well, let’s see you take this on! Volcarona! Go!” Mars said. “Silver Wind!

“Hydro Countershield!” Ash said.

Volcarona sends out its silver powder, but it just ends up being caught in the countershield.

“Now, fire!” Ash says.

Buizel gets up and fires the silver water at Volcarona.

“Hurricane!” Mars said.

The attack gets absorbed into the hurricane and hits Buizel, knocking him out.

“Buizel is unable to battle, Volcarona wins.” the ref says.

“Good luck winning now, Ash” Mars said.

“I don’t need it. Charizard! Go!” Ash said. “Air Slash!”

Charizard slashes the air, send a part of it at Volcarona, hitting him.

“Volcarona, use Wild Charge!” Mars said smirking.

“What?” Ash said as Volcarona charged at Charizard, covered in electricity.

As he made contact, Charizard took massive damage, and Volcarona also took recoil damage. This is enough to activate their Blaze and Swarm abilities, respectively.

“Well how about we finish this in one attack?” Mars said. “Bug Buzz!”

“Blast Burn!” Ash said.

Due to the overwhelming power of Blast Burn, it blasts through the Bug Buzz and knocks out Volcarona.

“Volcarona is unable to battle, Charizard wins. The winner is Ash!” the ref said.

“Well done Ash.” Mars said. “Misty, can you come down here?”

“Coming!” Misty shouts down.

“I would like to present you two with your first Badge in the Tajon region. The primary Volcano Badge.” Mars said.

“Primary Badge?” Misty asked.

“Yes, you will get the secondary badge after our rematch.” Mars explained.

“Well, can we have our rematch now?” Ash asked.

“No. You must go through the whole league once, defeating the champion and everything, before you can gain the secondary badges. Then, when you beat the champion the second time, you gain the title of champion for yourself.” Mars revealed.

“Wow. Thats a lot of battling.” Misty said.

“I know! Its gonna be awesome!” Ash said.

“Thats all you ever think about isn’t it?” Misty said. “So where’s the next Gym?” 

“I suggest going to Scorpio Town.” Mars said. “It’s the next closest and is usually what people go to second.” 

“Ok. Tomorrow, we leave to Scorpio Town!” Ash said.


	6. VS Misty

Chapter 6

Ash’s POV

Ash and his friends bid farewell to Mars as they continued on their path to the next town. 

“Wow, my first badge.” Misty said, admiring the volcano shaped badge.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would of thought you’ve been doing gym battles for as long as me.” Ash said.

“I wasn’t that good.” Misty said.

“True. It would take a long time for you to even come close to how good I am.” Ash said.

“Oh brother.” Dawn said.

“Is this a challenge?” Misty asked.

“Both of you, calm down.” Brock said stepping between them.

“Dang it Brock. I wanted to see them duke it out.” Gary said.

“Yea, it is.” Ash said, ignoring Brock and Gary.

“Fine. I challenge you to a 6 on 6 battle.” Misty said.

“Sometimes I feel as if nobody listens to me.” Brock said with a sigh. “Lets find a space and get this over with.”

“Well at least I’ll get some entertainment on this trip.” Jakaura said.

TR POV

“Ya hear that?” Meowth asked.

“So the twerp and twerpette are gonna have a battle.” Jessie said.

“This is the perfect opportunity to steal their pokemon.” Meowth said.

“How’s that?” James asked.

“Its simple.” Meowth said. “Those two are doing a battle with all their pokemon. So that means that when its over, the pokemon will be too tired to defend themselves.” 

“And that's when we swoop in and take them all.” Jessie finished.

“The perfect plan to poach that Pikachu and the other pokemon is to pursue them when they’re pooped.” Meowth said.

“Brilliant use of the letter P.” James said.

Jakaura’s POV

“This will be a six on six battle between Ash and Misty.” Brock said. “Begin.”

“Go! Charizard!” Ash says.

“What’s Ash doing using Charizard so early?” May asked.

“He probably knows that Charizard won’t be able to do much so he wants to do as much as he can right off the bat.” Gary explained.

“Go! Corsola!” Misty said.

“Charizard! Flare Blitz!” Ash said.

Charizard is then cloaked in flame as he charges towards Corsola, hitting he causing minimal damage.

“Now grab her and use Seismic Toss!” Ash said.

Charizard reached down and grabbed Corsola by her spikes and flew into the sky.

“Big mistake Ash. Corsola, Spike Cannon!” Misty said

Just then, corsola shoots her spikes at Charizard, who was holding the exact same spikes causing even more damage.

“Now, Ancientpower!” Misty said.

Corsola makes rock so that she can jump from one to the other to get back to the ground, then fires them at Charizard, causing massive damage.

“Charizard!” Ash said as Charizard got back up. “Use Blast Burn!”

Charizard concentrates his energy for a moment, then fires a huge ball of fire at Corsola, powered up by his Blaze ability.

“Corsola! Dodge!” Misty said.

Despite Corsola’s best efforts, she couldn’t dodge the powerful fire attack. However, it still had not done enough damage to make her faint.

“Now, use Power Gem.” Misty said.

This was too much for Charizard to take, as he fainted.

“Charizard is unable to battle, Corsola wins.” Brock said

“So, you wanna take that back?” Misty said smirking.

“Why would I do that?” Ash asked. “Go Sceptile.”

“Thats a good choice.” Gary said.

“Why?” Dawn asked.

“Corsola is rock and water, meaning that grass would be 4 times as effective.” Gary revealed.

“Sceptile, Leaf Blade!” Ash said.

Try as she might, Corsola was unable to take that attack due to her previous damages.

“Corsola is unable to battle. Sceptile wins.” Brock said

“Well, you’ve caught back up. Go, Golduck!” Misty said.

“Let’s end this quickly!” Ash said. “Agility!”

Sceptile took off at an incredible speed, making it very difficult to keep up with his movements.

“Exactly what I wanted.” Misty said. “Golduck, Psych up!” 

Golduck then gains just as much speed as Sceptile did, making them on even grounds.

“Special move! Confusing Hydro!” Misty said.

“Like I’m going to fall for that.” Ash said. “Sceptile! Countershield!”

“What?” Dawn asked. “When did he teach Sceptile a countershield?”

Just then a tornado of leaves surrounded Sceptile and blocked the combination of Water Pulse and Hydro Pump.

“Now fire!” Ash said.

Then the tornado of leaves changed directions and fired at Golduck, causing massive damage.

“I see. Sceptile used his Leaf Storm as a countershield.” Gary observed. “Sacrificing attack power for health, a risky move.”

“What do you mean?” May asked.

“Leaf Storm is an attack that lowers a pokemon’s special attack.” Gary explained.

“Now finish it!” Ash said. “Leaf Blade!”

The super effective attack proved too much for Golduck to take, as Golduck faints.

“Golduck is unable to battle, Sceptile wins.” Brock says.

“I told you that you couldn’t beat me.” Ash said.

“Don’t get cocky.” Misty said. “Go, Politoed!”

“Let’s not waste any time. Leaf Blade!” Ash said

“Hypnosis!” Misty said.

Just as Sceptile starts to charge at Politoed, Politoed hypnotizes him into falling asleep, causing his charge to end short of his target.

“Special move! Double Wake-up Slap!” Misty said.

Politoed’s hand started glowing white as he smacked Sceptile across the face time after time. After he was done, Sceptile had gone from asleep to being knocked out.

“Sceptile is unable to battle. Politoed wins.” Brock said.

“Told you not to get cocky.” Misty said with a smirk.

“Oh I’m just getting started. Go Heracross!” Ash said.

“Let’s make this quick!” Misty said. “Hypnosis!”

Just like Sceptile, Heracross was put to sleep in an instant.

“Just what I was hoping for. Heracross! Sleep Talk!” Ash said.

Luckily for Ash, Heracross used his most powerful attack, Megahorn, knocking Politoed out in one hit.

“Politoed is unable to battle. Heracross wins.” Brock says.

“Go Tenta-” Misty started.

“I hate to interupt, but we have company.” Jakaura said.

“What?” Ash asked.

“What a question, twerpish indeed!” Jessie said.

“We'll answer these questions when we feel the need!” James added.

“Bringing the blinding white light of evil into the future!” Jessie said.

“Thrusting the hammer of justice down onto the black darkness of the universe!” James said.

“Carving our names in the Rock of Eternity!” Meowth added.

“The fiery destroyer, Jessie!” Jessie announced.

“And with thunderous emotion, I am James!” James added.

“Wisest of the wise, Meowth!” Meowth said.

“And now gather, under the name of Team Rocket!” They finished.

“What was that?” Misty asked.

“That was our motto, twerpette.” Jessie said.

“But what happened to the old ‘Prepare for trouble, make it double’ thing?” Misty asked

“Yea, what did happen to that one Jessie?” James asked.

“I always did quite like that one.” Jessie said.

“Enough talking! We’re here for you pokemon, so hand them over!” Meowth said.

“No way!” May said.

“Like we would just give you our pokemon.” Dawn said.

“That wasn’t a request.” Jessie said pushing a button.

As she pushed the button, a hose popped out of the bottom of the balloon and started sucking up everyones pokeballs.

“Why do they always need to use a vacuum?” Brock asked over the winds.

“No! Pikachu!” Ash said as Pikachu was sucked into the vacuum.

“Hey guys look. Its a Lucario.” Meowth said.

“But doesn’t the boss already have one?” James asked.

“It doesn’t matter. Lets take it.” Jessie said. 

“Hey Jakaura!” Ash said. “A little help here!”

“What’s the magic word?” Jakaura said smirking.

“Get your ass in gear right now!” Misty shouted.

“Yea, yea. I’m going. I’m going.” Jakaura said as he let the vacuum suck him up.

“Yes! We got him!” Meowth said.

“Um, What’s that glowing?” James asked.

“What glowing?” Jessie asked.

“The one right below us.” James revealed.

Sure enough, there wait a faint blue glow underneath them and in no time flat, it exploded dropping the pokeballs from the air and into the arms of the waiting trainers. 

“You know, maybe we should listen to the twerpette and go back to our old motto.” James said as they were soaring through the air.

“If you insist.” Jessie said.

“Looks like Team Rocket’s blasting off again!” They all shouted as the faded into the distance.

“Well, thats over with. Lets get back on the road.” Brock said.

“But Misty and I didn’t finish our battle.” Ash complained.

“Well we need to get moving if we’re going to get to Scorpio Town before it gets dark out.” Gary said.

“Fine.” Ash said depressedly as they continued on their way towards Scorpio Town.

They made it to the town just before sunset. Despite delays from Brock and his flirting with Nurse Joy, the 6 of them eventually got a room and laid down to get some sleep.

Misty’s POV

Another night and Misty still couldn’t get any sleep. She had no idea how Ash could take that anticipation before a gym battle. She walked out to the balcony, secretly wishing that Ash was out there again.

‘I just can’t stop thinking of him lately. I mean sure, we’re actually in the same place instead of regions away, but I still didn’t think about him this much when we were traveling through Kanto and Johto. Guess thats what puberty will do to you.’ Misty thought with a chuckle.

“Alright, good job Sceptile. Keep it up! You too Dewott.” A voice said from the battlefields behind the center

“Ash?” Misty asked as she heard it.

Misty quickly looked to Ash’s bed, noting that he wasn’t there.

‘That is Ash.’ Misty thought.

Misty immediately rushed out the door and to the back of the center to find that her guess was right. Ash was outside training with his Pokemon.

“Ash?” Misty asked causing Ash to visibly jump.

“Jeez Misty. Give a guy some warning before you sneak up on them.” Ash said.

“That was my warning. Unless you would’ve liked for me to just walk up and tap you on the shoulder.” Misty said.

“Sorry. You just spooked me.” Ash said.

“What are you doing training this late?” Misty asked.

“Well, I want to be able to beat you the next time that we face.” Ash answered.

“You were probably going to beat me today.” Misty said.

“Don’t sell yourself short. It was really close.” Ash said.

“But why are you determined to beat me?” Misty asked.

“I don’t know.” Ash said. It was obvious that he wasn’t telling the truth, but Misty decided not to force it out of him.

“Come on Ash. Let’s go back inside.” Misty said.

“I can’t. I have to train.” Ash said.

“No. It’s midnight and you are coming back to bed with me.” Misty said.

“Woah there Misty.” Jakaura said, jumping off the roof with a smirk. “Thats a fast don’t you think?”

“I can’t go up right now Misty. There’s too much on my mind.” Ash said, ignoring Jakaura’s jab. It was obvious that he wasn’t in the mood to talk.

“Ok.” Misty said. “Just make sure that you get some sleep. You’re gonna need it for tomorrow.”

“I will Misty.” Ash said with a chuckle. “Goodnight Misty.”

“Goodnight.” Misty said as she walked back to the door.

Jakaura’s POV

“So what’s on your mind?” Jakaura asked.

“Don’t you already know?” Ash asked.

“Yes, but I want to hear you say it yourself.” Jakaura said.

“Fine. I want to be able to protect her. But I can’t do that if I’m not strong enough.” Ash revealed.

“Misty doesn’t need protection.” Jakaura said.

“I’m not trying to because she needs me to.” Ash said. “I’m trying because I want to.” 

“But your still strong enough.” Jakaura said.

“No I’m not. Did you see how easily Team Rocket took our pokemon?” Ash asked. “I was useless.”

“If you really feel that way, then lets do some training battles.” Jakaura said. 

“Fine. Let’s do this.” Ash said.

‘You’re welcome’ Jakaura projected.

‘... Thanks’ Misty responded.

Pearl’s POV

“Your next assignment is in.” Giovanni said.

“What is it?” Pearl asked.

“You’re going undercover. Befriend them, and collect intel for us.” Giovanni told him. “You will be given a new set of pokemon. One that’s more, you.”

“I won’t let you down.” Pearl said.


	7. VS Pluto

Chapter 7

Ash’s POV

After his intense training with Jakaura the night before, Ash woke up from his sleep.

“Good morning guys.” Ash said.

But as Ash finished rubbing the sleep from his eyes he realized that there was nobody else in the room with him. 

“What time is it?” Ash said looking over at the clock. “Why is everybody up already? Its only 7:30.”

Just then the bathroom door opened creaked open slowly and Misty’s head popped out.

“Great, you woke up at the worst possible time.” Misty said.

“Misty, why is everybody up already?” Ash asked.

“I’ll explain later.” Misty said. “But now, can you grab my clothes?” 

“Why did you forget your clothes?” Ash asked.

“Quit asking questions and grab my clothes!” Misty said as she pulled her head back in, leaving the door cracked open.

Ash quickly grabbed Misty a shirt and a pair of shorts and walked over to the door. 

“Umm, Ash?” Misty said.

“Yea?” Ash said. 

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a girl.” Misty said.

“And?” Ash asked.

“I kinda need my bra. And underwear, if you wouldn’t mind.” Misty said sheepishly, as she went back into the bathroom.

“Oh.” Ash said as he slowly walked over to her bag to grab the items, and walked back to the door. “I’m at the door.”

Misty got up off the toilet where she was waiting and walked to the door. But just before she got to the door, she slipped on some water and fell through the door.

“Misty!” Ash said crouching down next to her and putting his hand on her back. “Are you okay?”

The simple contact with Ash was enough to render her body useless. She couldn’t speak until she realized that she was still fallen over, naked on the floor, next to Ash.

“Yea, I’m fine.” Misty said as she snatched the clothes from Ash and quickly ran into the bathroom.

‘What was that for?’ Ash thought as Misty ran out of the bathroom and downstairs.

Misty’s POV

Misty had never felt more embarrassed in her life. Ash just saw her naked. She felt so stupid. 

‘I need to talk to someone about this.’ Misty thought.

‘I’ll assume you don’t mean me.’ Jakaura projected.

‘No. I don’t.’ Misty responded.

“Hey Misty.” Brock said as Misty entered the lobby. “Did you wake up Ash?”

“You can say that.” Jakaura answered for her, smirking. “He really is dense, isn’t he?”

“What do you mean?” Gary asked.

“Ask her.” Jakaura said.

“May, Dawn. I need to talk to you 2.” Misty said, pulling them aside.

“Guess we’ll never figure out.” Brock said.

“But they probably are?” Gary said.

“Slow down Misty. What’s wrong?” May asked.

“Ash saw me naked.” Misty said.

“WHAT!?” Dawn and May both asked.

“Shh. Not so loud.” Misty said, already embarrassed.

“How did this happen?” Dawn asked.

“He woke up and I had forgotten my clothes outside. So I asked him to go and grab them for me. But when I was walking to the door to grab them, I slipped and fell through the door.” Misty said, blushing the whole time.

“And?” May asked.

“And what?” Misty asked.

“And what did he do?” Dawn asked.

“He crouched down and asked if I was ok.” Misty said. “I don’t know if it helps or hurts that he didn’t notice.”

“He was probably just being dense.” May said. “Just like Jakaura said.”

“If you insist.” Misty said.

Ash’s POV 

After Ash was done with his shower the group had started the short walk to the Gym. All the time Brock was asking Ash what had happened but Ash didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Congratulations. You’ve won the secondary badge, Paul.” a voice in the back said.

“Paul?” Ash asked.

“You don’t think?” Brock asked.

Their theories were confirmed as Paul walked through the door.

“Hey! Paul!” Ash said.

“Oh, It’s you.” Paul said. 

“You’ve already won the Secondary badge?” Brock asked.

“Who is this?” May asked.

“Oh, this is Paul.” Dawn revealed. “He was Ash’s rival when he was in Sinnoh.”

“Hey, Ash. You better hurry up with this Gym.” Paul said.

“Why?” Ash asked.

“Because I challenge you to a battle.” Paul says, walking out. “I’ll see you behind the pokemon center.”

“It’s always good to see two trainers so into training pokemon.” a man said. “Hello, my name is Pluto, and I’m the Gym Leader, Who’s here to face me?” 

“I call first.” Misty said.

“But you first last time.” Ash complained.

“Because I called. Just like now.” Misty said.

“Fine.” Ash said as he walked to the seats.

“This will be a 3 on 3 battle between the leader Pluto and the challenger Misty.” the ref said. “Let the battle begin.”

“Go Krookodile!” Pluto said.

“Go! Tentacruel!” Misty said

“Mud Slap!” Pluto said.

Just then, Krookodile picked up some mud and threw it Tentacruel.

“Hydro Pump!” Misty said.

The Hydro Pump shot straight through the Mud Slap and hit the Krookodile.

“Impressive. Lets see you deal with this. Earthquake!” Pluto said.

Krookodile stomped on the ground creating a massive shock wave that shook Tentacruel until it fainted.

“Tentacruel is unable to battle. Krookodile wins.” the ref says.

“Azumarill!” Misty said. “Go!”

“Foul Play!” Pluto said.

Krookodile charged at Azumarill, grabbed her by the ears, and slammed her to the ground. Luckily the strength of Azumarill wasn’t too high, decreasing the power of the attack.

“Special Move! Superjet!” Misty said.

Azumarill glows a faint red color before coating herself in water and flying at Krookodile. As she hit him, she grabbed him around the waist before flipping and slamming him into the ground, knocking him out.

“Krookodile is unable to battle. Azumarill wins.” The ref said.

“Go! Gastrodon!” Pluto said. “Body Slam!”

“Grass Knot!” Misty said.

Just before Gastrodon started his charge, he was tripped up by some grass, causing massive damage.

“Now, Double-Edge!” Misty said.

At full speed, Azumarill charged at Gastrodon, knocking it down and out, but doing a large amount of damage to herself in the process.

“Gastrodon is unable to battle, Azumarill wins.” the ref said.

“Well. You’re pretty good.” Pluto said. “But lets see you handle this.” he said as he threw a pokeball.

Out of the pokeball came a Gliscor, looking tough and ready for a fight.

“Too easy.” Misty said.

“I don’t think it will be.” Pluto said. “Guillotine!”

With that, Gliscor charges at Azumarill and grabs her right underneath her face, gripping very tightly, before throwing her at the wall, where she was knocked out.

“That was a very risky move.” Brock said.

“How so?” May asked

“Guillotine commonly misses. If it did, Gliscor would’ve been in trouble.” Gary said.

“Azumarill is unable to battle. Gliscor wins.” the ref said. “This will be the final battle.”

“Go! Gyarados!” Misty said.

“This will be over quickly.” Pluto said, “Gliscor, Thunder Fang.”

Gliscor’s fangs are cloaked in electrical energy as he charges at Gyarados, biting him in his midsection.

“Gyarados! Hang in there!” Misty said. “Use Ice Fang!” 

Despite the pain that Gyarados was feeling, he froze the inside of his mouth and grabbed Gliscor around the tail and threw him into the air, freezing his tail in the process. 

“Now, Hydro Pump!” Misty said.

Before Gliscor could get his bearings, Gyarados fired a powerful rush of water at him, knocking him out on the spot.

“Gliscor is unable to battle. Gyarados wins.” the ref said. “Misty is the winner.”

“Yea!” Ash said. “Good job Misty.”

“Will the next challenger please step down?” the ref said.

“Gladly.” Ash said.

“Go get them Ash.” Dawn said. 

“Show them who’s boss!” May said.

“This will be a 3 on 3 battle between the gym leader Pluto and the challenger Ash.” the ref said. “Begin.”

“Go Dewott!” Ash said. 

“Go Krookodile!” Pluto said.

“Aqua Shell!” Ash said. 

With that said, Dewott took the dual scallops off of his sides and cloaked them in water. He then proceeded to throw them at Krookodile.

“Earthquake!” Pluto said.

Krookodile jumped into the air and avoided the scallops, which is very surprising due to his immense size, and slammed back onto the ground, causing it to shake.

“Quickly!” Ash said. “Aqua Jet!” 

As fast as he could, Dewott covered himself in water and rushed into the air, avoiding the earthquake.

“Now strike!” Ash said. 

Dewott quickly changed direction and charged at the large crocodile. But at the last second, he ducked away from the strike, causing Dewott to land behind him.

“Nice try Ash.” Pluto said.

“You think that was unintentional?” Ash said. “Now throw ‘em again!”

“What?” Pluto said.

Unknown to Pluto, when Dewott went past Krookodile, he had landed directly in front of his dual scallops, which were at the moment sailing through the air directly at Krookodile’s back. When they hit the surprised behemoth, he was out for the count.

“Krookodile is unable to battle. Dewott wins.” the ref said.

“Well I didn’t expect that, but you won’t be able to beat me now.” Pluto said. “Go! Gastrodon.”

“You still feeling ok, Dewott?” Ash asked gaining an affirmative nod from the otter.

“Well then let’s get started. Bulldoze!” Pluto said to start the second battle.

When said, Gastrodon created a shockwave similar to Krookodile, however it only shook up Dewott and shifted the ground.

“Now Body Slam!” Pluto said.

With amazing speed for a slug, Gastrodon charged and jumped into the air above Dewott.

“Dodge!” Ash said.

Try as he might, Dewott was unable to run away due to the recently shifted ground. As soon as Gastrodon got up off of the otter, it was clear he couldn’t battle.

“Dewott is unable to battle. Gastrodon wins.” the ref said.

“Ok go Bui-” Ash started.

“Oh no you don’t” Jakaura said as he jumped down from the stands. “I want to see what he’s got.”

“But-” Ash tried.

“No buts. I haven’t seen battles in the Gym circuit for a while, and I’m itching to get back into it.” Jakaura said with a smirk. “So just sit back and relax, this won’t take too long.” 

“Well if he wants this so much then fine. Gastrodon, finish this before it starts. Earthquake!” Pluto said.

“Jakaura use-” Ash again started only to be cut off.

“I know what I’m doing!” Jakaura said as he closed his eyes. Just before the shockwave had gotten to him, he jumped over it.

“Nice Detect. But that doesn’t mean you’ve won.” Pluto said.

Just then, Gastrodon fell over, knocked out.

“No, that does.” Jakaura said from behind Pluto.

“What?” Pluto said. 

“Did you really think a slug could keep up with my speed, now bring out your little Gliscor, I want an actual challenge this time. though.” he said as he walked back onto the field.

“Fine, I’ll end this quick. Gliscor, come out.” Pluto said as he threw a pokeball “Use Hyper Beam!”

“Thats the best you got?” Jakaura asked as he just stood there.

“Get out of there!” May said.

“Don’t worry. He’s probably just gonna dodge at the las-” Gary said as Jakaura was consumed by the massive beam of energy. “Or, he’s going to get hit by it...” 

However as the smoke cleared, it was shown that Jakaura wasn’t even phased by the attack at all.

“Again, is that the best you got?” Jakaura said as he dusted his shoulders off. “Honestly, I’ve seen Gligars do better. Try this on for size.” 

With that said, Jakaura jumped into the air, straight at the bat scorpion.

“Quick, Protect!” Pluto said. 

As fast he could Gliscor forge a barrier between himself and the charging jackal. However this didn’t stop his charge. As soon as he got to the barrier, he did a quick movement of his hand which disarmed the barrier, and with his other hand, he punched Gliscor in the face, sending him careening into the ground.

“Too predictable.” Jakaura said as he landed.

“Gliscor is unable to battle. Lucario wins. The winner is Ash.” the ref said.

“How did Jakaura get passed the Protect?” Dawn asked.

“Feint. But that’s such a weak move. How could it have done so much damage?” Brock asked.

“Misty, can you come here?” Pluto called to the stands as he walked over to Ash and Jakaura.

“Coming.” She replied.

“I want to entrust both of you with the primary scorpion badge.” Pluto said as he handed both of them a badge that looked like half of a Gliscor claw. 

“Thanks.” Misty said.

“Where should we go next?” Ash asked.

“I suggest going to Virgo City.” Pluto said. 

“Well then off to Virgo City!” Ash said.

“Um, Ash?” May asked.

“Yea?” Ash asked.

“Aren’t we supposed to meet with Paul?” Dawn asked.

“Oh yea. I almost forgot. So Paul, then Virg-” Ash was interrupted by his own stomach. “Ok, Paul, food, Virgo City.” 

“Sounds good.” Misty said.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Gary said as they ran outside.


	8. VS Resistance

Chapter 8

??? POV

‘I can’t believe he just left me. We were supposed to escape together, and finally end all of this.’ she thought. ‘But all he left was this note.’ 

My dearest friend,  
I’m sorry. I can’t take you with me. This mission is much too dangerous. I don’t know what I would do if you got hurt again. So I’m leaving you behind. But trust me. I will finish this fight and come back to you. Maybe then we could be at peace.  
Your friend,  
Jakaura.

‘Come on, focus!’ she screamed at her self, shutting her eyes in concentration. ‘Finally!’ And with that she was gone from the room without a trace.

Grunt POV

“He’s approaching, what should we do?” the grunt asked into his radio.

“Wait until I give the signal, then attack.” his boss replied.

“Sure thing.” his partner said. 

Ash POV

“Hey! There’s Paul!” Ash said.

“Hmph. It’s about time you got here.” Paul said.

“Well I’m here now. So are we gonna have that battle?” Ash asked.

“Of course we are.” Paul said grabbing a pokeball.

“Hydreigon! Fire Blast!” the grunt said.

“Get down!” Paul said tackling Ash to the ground. However just before the Fire Blast hit where they were, a shiny Gardevoir teleported in and protected against the attack.

“Good job Paul. If you didn’t send out your Gardevoir, we would’ve been toast.” Ash said.

“But I don’t have a Gardevoir.” Paul said shocked.

“Ward?” Jakaura asked, stepping forward.

“Ah, so my teleport was correct after all.” ‘Ward’ the Gardevoir said.

“I told you not to come here!” Jakaura said. “It’s already dangerous enough having to protect this dimwit. I don’t want to have to protect you, too!”

“I don’t need your protection! And this was MY idea to begin with! And I better be a damn part in it!” Ward said.

“Guys!” Paul shouted. 

“What?!” Jakara and Ward both asked.

“Not now! Incase you hadn’t noticed, we have some Rockets to deal with!” Paul said.

“Let me-” Jakaura started.

“No. Let us handle this.” Ward said stepping forWard.

“No Ward.” Jakaura started.

“I’m not the defenseless little Kirlia I was back then.” Ward said. “I can fight for myself.”

“Fine. Let’s just finish this.” Jakaura said.

“Well, well.” the grunt said. “Look who it is.”

“As soon as we defeat you, we will take you back to those cages where you belong.” the second grunt said, throwing his pokeball. “Come back, Hydreigon. go, Spiritomb!”

The pokeball opened to reveal a small rock with a few cracks, but soon, out of the cracks, a fog of purple with green spheres emerged, revealing the face of a Spiritomb.

“That could be some trouble.” Ward said.

“If you thought that was bad, wait until you see this.Go, Sableye!” the first grunt said. 

“Shit!” Jakaura said.

“HAHA! There’s no way you can beat us now.” Grunt 1 said.

“Jakaura, protect me.” Ward said.

“I thought you didn’t need it.” Jakaura said, a sly grin on his face..

“As in you’re up, I’m back.” Ward said rolling her eyes.

“Obviously.” Jakaura said running forward, eyes glowing red.

“Ha, that won’t work, little dog.” Grunt 2 said as Jakaura jumped into the air and charged an Aura sphere.

“Think again!” Jakaura said throwing it at the Sableye.

Suddenly, instead of going through it like it normally would for ghost types, it hit the crystal-eyed pokemon, causing massive damage.

“Nice Foresight.” Ward said. “Now!” 

Ward quickly split into many copies of herself and greatly increased her evasion.

“What are you doing?” Grunt 2 said. 

“You’ll see.” Ward said.

“No I won’t! Sableye! Use Foul Play! Finish her quickly!” the grunt said.

The Sableye jumped and swung at one of the clones, but ended up hitting the wrong one.

“Dang it! Keep hitting them! Take all of them out if you have to!” The grunt shouted. But before the gremlin could move another step, Jakaura jumped in front of him and quickly stopped him from striking. 

“Dang it! Sableye, return! Go, Drapion!” Out of the pokemon came a large scorpion, easily dwarfing the size of its two competitors.

“Ward! I need some help here!” Jakaura shouted back to her as he grappled with the Drapion. 

“Go and get the Spiritomb, I’ll deal with the Drapion.” Ward said, still not opening her eyes.

“With pleasure, now come here you little brat!” Jakaura said jumping over the Drapion and hitting the Spiritomb directly with a powerful Close Combat.

“Grah! Go, Hydreigon!” The grunt said, recalling his Spiritomb and sending out his three-headed hydra, which quickly took the place next to the Drapion.

“Heh, what do you think you’re going to do against my Drapion? Your attacks won’t do anything due to his dark advantage.” The grunt chuckled. 

Just then, Ward opened her eyes, glowing blue from the incredible psychic energy. The ground around her shook and an explosion occured, with her at the center. The blast extended further and further, whipping dust everywhere. 

“What is she doing?” Dawn shouted over the winds.

“She’s using Stored Power! But I’ve never seen a pokemon use it and have it be so powerful before!” Brock explained.

“She must’ve been using Calm Mind, not only did it make her Special moves more powerful, but it also added to the overall power of the attack.” Gary said.

“It doesn’t matter how strong the attack is, it doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t affect our dark types!” The grunt shouted, as the blast consumed their pokemon.

But, as the smoke cleared from the blast, the Drapion was down on the ground, in a horrible condition. The Hydreigon was still conscious, but not it much better of a condition.

“What?” Paul shouted. 

“She just took out a Dark type with a Psychic attack...” Ash said astonished. “Is that even possible?” 

“There’s one attack that can make dark types be hit by psychics, Miracle Eye. But Gardevoir’s can’t learn it.” Gary said, astounded by what he just saw.

“Well, Ward’s not your average Gardevoir.” Jakaura said as he walked passed the weathered Hydreigon, lightly jabbing it to render it unconscious.

“Well, at least we accomplished what we set out to do.” The grunt said. 

“You guys lost. How could you have been successful?” Jakaura asked. Not even a second after he finished, an explosion was heard off in the distance.

“Hahaha! We were just the diversion! The real mission was to raid the fossil depot here! We couldn’t let goody two shoes like you get in the way.” And with that the grunts returned their pokemon and ran back into the woods.

“Oh no you don’t.” Ash said, about to run off and try to stop them, only to be stopped by Brock’s hand on his shoulder.

“There’s no time, we have to go and stop the ones attacking the fossil depot.” Brock explained.

“Fine, then let’s get going.” Ash said as he led the group to the billowing smoke caused by the explosion. By the time they had got there, the smoke was dying down, and a few Team Rocket grunts were loading machinery into their truck. “Stop right there!” 

“Too late, kid!” one of the grunts said as he finished loading his box into the back and jumped in. As soon as he had gotten into the truck, it began speeding away.

“Damn it!” Jakaura said, slamming his paw into the wall, causing it to dent. 

“We tried our best, how could we have known they were going to rob the fossil depot?” May reasoned. 

“Exactly, we couldn’t. So let’s not lose sleep over it. Come on the sun’s setting, Let’s get back to the Pokemon Center.” Brock said, leading everyone away from the wreck that was the fossil depot. When Ash looked back, he noticed Paul was breaking away from the group. 

“Hey, Paul! Where are you going?” Ash shouted, stopping to talk to him. 

“I can’t waste my time here any longer. I have to keep moving if I’m to keep ahead of you.” Paul said.

“Come on, just stay the night. It’s too late to start traveling.” Dawn said behind Ash. 

“Sorry, maybe after I’ve finished what i set out to do, then I’ll stay.” And without any further explanation, Paul left down the path to the next town. 

“Don’t you worry Paul!” Ash shouted after him. “I’ll catch up to you, and then I’ll beat you again!” And with that, the group continued on the path to the Center, where they would be spending the night.

Jakaura POV

It was late in the night, and nobody was awake, except two childhood friends. They spent their night on the roof, away from any possible interruptions. 

“You know, when you left, I thought I would never be able to see you again.” Ward said, breaking the silence.

“I knew you’d find a way to get out. Nothing can keep you from getting what you want.” Jakaura explained. “But this is still too dangerous, I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“You saw what I could do, i wouldn’t consider that weak by any definition of the word.” Ward countered. “Besides, I want to help.” 

“Well, If you want to help, I have a task for you.” Jakaura said.

“What’s that?” Ward asked, coming closer. “Well that seems easy enough. Are you sure this isn’t just a plan for you to get rid of me?” 

“Oh, trust me.” Jakaura said with a smirk. “If I wanted to get rid of you, I would’ve just said to leave.”

“Well I’ll get right to that then.” Ward said as she jumped off the roof to the balcony of their room. After a few seconds a light could be seen from inside the room. 

“Well, maybe now you’ll be able to focus.” Jakaura said to no one in particular.

Pearl POV

“Oh, hey boss.” One of the Grunts said as he approached. 

“Did we get everything that we needed?” Pearl asked, getting straight to the point. 

“Yes, and all of it is still functional. With a modifications, the machines should be up to specs with what Giovanni wants from us.” The lead scientist explained. “We still need a few notes and a few more parts before we can get it running though.” 

“We’ll take our time with getting those. we don't to draw too much attention to us.” Pearl explained.

“Sir yes sir.” The grunts answered simultaneously.

“Sir Giovanni, the equipment has been secured.” Pearl said into his radio system. 

“Well, well. They better hurry up. There’s one final piece to the puzzle that only I can receive. But only after the generous host delivers it to me.” Giovanni replied. “Dismissed.”

Misty POV  
Misty woke up to the bright shine of the sun beaming on her face. As she rubbed her eyes, she was confused as to her surroundings. She was in the middle of a city, with the only person she knew being Ward, who had noticed she was awake.  
“Oh so you’re awake. Well, we better hurry up, If we want to stay ahead of them.” Ward said, reaching out to help Misty up. 

“Where are we?” Misty asked, still confused. 

“Virgo City, where the 3rd badge is. Now come on, we have to win that badge.” Ward said pulling her along, before Misty pulled her arm back. 

“But where is everyone else?” She asked.

“Back in the last city, now come on. There’s no use asking anything else.” Ward explained, running off. 

Choosing not to argue, Misty followed after the Gardevoir through the alleys of the city.


	9. To See the Distance

“Calm down Ash, we’ll find her.” Brock said, trying to calm down his obviously distraught friend.

“But what if Team Rocket took her? They have us on their list, they would do this to try to stop us.” Ash said, panicked.

“Ash just think, Ward isn’t here either. So it’s safe to assume that they’re together, and if they are, there’s no way that Ward would let her get hurt.” Jakaura reasoned. 

“But what if...” Ash started. 

“No buts, we are just going to continue along the path. Hopefully we’ll run into her.” Gary said. 

“Fine...” Ash surrendered. 

Misty’s POV 

“HAHA! What were thinking bringing only water types to an electric gym!” the gym leader laughed.

‘Dang it, I only have one left, and I haven’t beaten any of his.’ Misty thought.

“Well, enough standing on the sidelines. Time for me to get my hands dirty.” Ward said as she walked out onto the battlefield. 

“Well, at least It’s better than a water type, but do you really think that one pokemon can beat all 4 of mine?” the gym leader said with a smirk on his face. 

“Ward, you don’t have to do this!” Misty said. 

“Don’t worry this won’t take long,” Ward said. 

“Come on, Raichu! Hit her with a Thunderbolt!” the Gym Leader commanded.

Raichu quickly began charging up a Thunderbolt, before unleashing it. But before it hit Ward, she quickly split into multiple copies. 

“Damn it, Double Team. Keep attacking!” But with every attack, a new clone would just reappear. 

“Ward that’s enough! You don’t need full power! Just hit him! Stored Power!” As soon as Misty shouted this, the clones all came back into one Gardevoir, her eyes glowing a light blue. Just like the other day, the energy radiated out of Ward, consuming everything in it’s path. As soon as the Raichu was caught in the blast, it was obvious he wouldn’t be walking out of it. When the smoke cleared, the Raichu was knocked out.

The Gym Leader was speechless, there was nothing he could do against that sheer power. His pokemon would be defeated after a second with that monster out there.

“I give up. There’s no way that I could beat that thing.” the gym leader said, his confidence shattered. “I give you the primary Eel badge.”

“Eel badge, why an eel?” Misty asked. 

“Because of my ace.” the gym leader said, throwing his pokeball into the air. Out of the pokeball came an Eelektross. “It’s my strongest pokemon, but it still wouldn’t have stood a chance against your Gardevoir there.” 

“Well, thanks for the badge!” Misty said as she left the gym. 

“Well, that wasn’t fun.” Ward said, pouting.

“How’s that?” Misty asked.

“He didn’t even let me fight the rest of his pokemon. I could’ve taken them on easily.” Ward explained.

“I think that’s why he didn’t let you.” Misty said with a chuckle.

Ash POV

“Well, we aren’t going to make it through this forest before the nights up.” Jakaura said. “Might as well stop here.”

“Why would we stop here? The suns still high in the sky, it can’t be much later than 1.” Dawn asked. 

“Because it’s about time I taught Ash something. I mean, that is the whole reason I’m here.” Jakaura said. “So, ready to get started?” 

“Ok, what are we doing first?” Ash asked, putting down his backpack.

“First, we’ll be using this.” Jakaura said reaching into Ash’s bag and grabbing out a pink piece of cloth. 

“Hey, Ash. Isn’t that Misty’s? You still have that?” Brock asked with a sly smile on his face. 

“Yea, so?” Ash asked.

“Can we please stay focused?” Jakaura said firmly. “Now, you’ll use this as a blindfold and try to see everything around you.” 

“Ok, that’s a piece of cake.” Ash said. 

“Don’t underestimate the difficulty of aura.” Jakaura said as he wrapped the blindfold around his head. “Ok, now what do you see.” 

“Nothing.” Ash said. 

“Concentrate on the energy of what you feel around you, and try to project it.” Jakaura explained. 

“I’m trying, but nothing’s showing up.” Ash said trying to concentrate. 

“Fine, time to give him a little help. You two, come here.” Jakaura said, referring to Brock and Gary. 

“Yea, what do you need?” Gary asked.

“You guys need to start a pokemon battle. The amount of energy released by your pokemon should be able to be seen by Ash.” Jakaura explained.

“Well then, this should be fun. Go, Steelix!” Brock said, releasing his gargantuan snake.

“Well how about this, go, Nidoking!” Gary said, releasing his dinosaur. 

“Well, that won’t do... Here, you two verses me. That should produce enough energy for him to see.” Jakaura said, getting into a battle stance.

“Fine, Nidoking, hit him with an Earthquake.” Gary commanded, the Nidoking lifting its leg, before quickly bringing it down, shaking the ground.

Jakaura quickly jumped out of the way of the shock wave, only to run into more trouble. 

“Now, Steelix, Bind!” Brock shouted. 

The snake quickly wrapped itself around Jakaura, rendering him unable to move.

“Hm, you guys aren’t half bad, but I’m done messing around.” Jakaura said, Breaking free of the Steelix and disappearing. 

“Damn it, did anyone see where he went?” Gary asked, looking around restlessly. 

“Quick, Steelix! 180 degrees to the right, Iron Tail!” Ash shouted.

Albeit confused, Steelix listened to him, and struck where ordered.When the smoke cleared, Jakaura was standing there with Steelix’s tail in his paws, with a sly grin on his face. “Good, you’re learning. But, you’re not good enough.”

“Now, Nidoking, Drill Run, aim at the legs!” Ash commanded. 

Just like Steelix, Nidoking listened to Ash without hesitation. Nidoking began charging towards the jackal, his horn pointing straight at the back of his legs.

“Nice plan, however,” Jakaura said, picking up Steelix by the tail, “It won’t work on me!” With that, he swung the iron snake at Nidoking, knocking both of the out on the spot. 

“Damn it, we lost.” Gary said.

“Did you really expect to win?” Brock asked, “From what we’ve seen, that pokemon is way out of our league.”

“Congratulations Ash, you’re learning quickly.” Jakaura said. 

“Thanks.” Ash said, taking off the blindfold. “So what’s next?”

“That’s it for now. We’ll work on more advanced things next time.” Jakaura said. “Well let’s get to sleep, we gotta get on the road early tomorrow.” 

Misty POV

“So, now that we’re able to relax, care to explain why we’re by ourselves?” Misty asked. 

“Well, Jakaura thought it would be better for Ash if you were gone.” Ward explained. “Apparently you’re too distracting to him.” 

“That’s just silly. How do I distract him anymore than anyone else does?” Misty asked. 

“You guys are so hopeless.” Ward sighed. 

“Hey, isn’t that Paul?” Misty asked, pointing to the entrance of the Pokemon Center.

Sure enough it was Paul, walking out of the Center.

“Hey, Paul!” Misty said, running up to him.

“Hmm? How’d you get here? Where’s Ash?” Paul asked. 

“I’m here by myself. I decided to go ahead by myself.” Misty lied. She didn’t really trust Paul with the fact that she was forced to go ahead. “Well since we’re both here, how about we travel together?” 

“Well, I don’t see the problem in it. Come on, let’s get a move on.” Paul said, walking out of the center.

“But it’s about to be night time. Shouldn’t we just stay at the center for a night?” Misty questioned.

“If you want to come with me, then you might as well come now, because I’m not waiting any longer.” Paul said, continuing towards the exit to the city.

“Fine! Wait up!” Misty said, picking up the pace to catch up to him.

Ash POV 

It was deep into night, and as it has been lately, Ash is unable to get any sleep. Trying his hardest not to disturb anyone, Ash got up out of his sleeping bag and walked away from the rest of the group.

“Where is she?” Ash asked nobody in particular, sighing. “She couldn’t have just disappeared. Why would she leave without telling us?”

Ash leaned back with a sigh, closing his eyes. “I give up.”

Just then, Ash saw everything. well, more of sensed everything. Everything he could see was in some shade of blue. He could see for miles, from the smallest Caterpie, to the largest Wailord. Even the dirt had its own Aura. 

“Glad to see you’ve joined my world.” Jakaura said, walking up behind Ash. “You picked up on that quickly.”

“Well, it helps that I had a half decent teacher.” Ash responded.

“I’ll take that as a complement.” Jakaura said.

It was then when he saw her. A few miles away, there she was, just sleeping in her sleeping bag next to someone she assumed was Ward. 

“Ash, don’t you dare..” Jakaura warned, already knowing what Ash was planning. But before he was even done talking, Ash had released his Charizard and jumped on his back. 

“Damn it Ash!” Jakaura said, charging up an Aura sphere, before throwing it at Ash.

“Charizard, increase altitude 30 degrees.” Charizard complied immediately, narrowly dodging the blast.

Nothing would stop him from getting Misty back. Not here. Ash once again shut his eyes in order to find her. But what surprised him was to find that Misty and Ward were not alone anymore. Thinking they were in trouble, Ash ordered Charizard to speed up. 

When Ash got to the spot, Ash opened his eyes, only to see something that was just as bad as if she was in trouble. Down in the clearing with her was Paul, his rival. ‘How could she? Why would she just leave us to go travel with him?’ Ash didn’t really know what he was feeling. Mad? Sad? Betrayed?

Pearl POV

5 min ago

“How are things going here?” Pearl said. 

“It seems that the next thing on the list to get would be the multichamber converter?” the scientist answered.

“So everything is on schedule?” Pearl asked. 

“Yes, Giovanni would be most pleased.” the scientist answered.

“Good, I’ll be waiting for the results. I’ll call when I am ready to initiate the next phase of the plan.” Pearl said, walking back in the direction he came from. 

Paul POV

Paul was awaken by the roar of a dragon. As he got up to look, he saw a Charizard flying above the clearing that him and Mist were sleeping in. As he looked closer, he saw a familiar figure flying on it’s back.

“Ketchum.” Paul said with a smirk, grabbing a pokeball and releasing his pokemon. 

Ash POV

Ash was startled from his thoughts from the releasing of pokemon from beneath him. Before he knew it, Paul was flying across from him on his Dragonite.

“Care to explain why you’re here?” Pal asked. 

“I’m here to bring Misty back.” Ash said, clenching his fists. 

“Are you willing to fight for her? I mean, we still haven’t had our battle.” Paul said with a smirk.

“Of course I am!” Ash shouted. 

“Well then let’s go!” Paul shouted back, flying back to the ground, Ash at his heels.


	10. VS Paul

“So, 6 vs 6?” Paul asked with a smirk. 

“Fine, whatever. Just hurry up and send out your pokemon.” Ash said impatiently.

“Let’s go, Snorlax!” Paul said, throwing out his first pokemon. “Rain Dance!”

“Fine, go Heracross.” Ash said throwing out his beetle. “Use Focus Punch!”

Immediately, Heracross moved into a striking pose, preparing himself to attack. 

“Already being risky, Snorlax! Use Heavy Slam!” Paul commanded.

With speed uncharacteristic for a Snorlax, the behemoth got up and charged at the bug, before jumping in the air, hoping to slam him with all of his weight. 

“Jump back five feet, and crouch with Megahorn prepare.” Ash commanded. 

Heracross complied, placing his glowing horn down. As Snorlax continued his descent, it became obvious what Ash’s plan was. “Now uppercut!” The Snorlax’s face was about an inch away from Heracross’ horn, when Heracross quickly stood up, flinging Snorlax back into the air.

“And now hit him!” Ash commanded. Flapping his wings, Heracross took off, barreling towards the Snorlax at a breakneck pace. 

“Quick, use Hyper Beam!” Paul commanded. 

“Right one foot, don’t swing until your fist makes contact.” Ash said. With Ash’s quick calculation, Heracross was able to easily dodge the attack, slamming his fist into Snorlax’s face, before using the forward motion he built up and extended his arm, sending the Snorlax flying again. When he finally landed, it was obvious he wouldn't be getting back up. 

“Well? Hurry up and send out the next one!” Ash shouted, full of anger. 

“Well then, let’s go Dusknoir!” Paul said throwing out his next pokeball.

“Return, Heracross! Go, Sceptile!” Ash said.

“Dusknoir! Use Will-o-wisp!” Paul commanded.

“Jump arc 30 degrees! Night Slash!” Ash commanded.

With that command, Sceptile jumped right over the attack, his arm blades glowing black. H continued forward until made contact with Dusknoir. After slashing him, Sceptile jumped back to the burn marks that marked where it once stood. 

“Grr. Dusknoir, Fire Punch!” Paul shouted.

“Backflip into Leaf Storm!” Ash commanded. 

As the Dusknoir charged at Sceptile, his hand cloaked in fire, Sceptile prepared himself. Then right before Dusknoir made it to him, Sceptile jumped over him. As Dusknoir swung, his hand slammed into the ground where his Will-o-wisp had already hit. 

“Wait for it.” Ash said, pensively.

“Dusknoir, move!” Paul commanded. 

Despite Paul’s command, the Dusknoir was having difficulty moving. Due to the ground weakening from his own Will-o-wisp, Dusknoir’s hand had smashed the ground, trapping his hand in the rubble. “Pull!” With one final tug, Dusknoir was able to get his hand free, but all too late.

“Now!” Ash commanded.

And with that, Sceptile let off a powerful Leaf Storm, knocking the already weakened Dusknoir out.

“Come on! Is that all you got!?” Ash shouted. The rain was pouring now, not showing signs of ending. 

“Grr! Go! Aggron!” Paul shouted, growing angry.

“Come back, Sceptile! Go, Dewott!” Ash said.

“Damn it! Aggron! Take him out!” Paul shouted. “Iron Head!”

“Keep him back with Hydro Pump until I say when!” Ash shouted. 

Dewott complied, firing the high pressured water at the charging the dinosaur. Although this slowed him down considerably, the Steel-type was still making headway. 

“Wait for it... Now! Dig!” Ash commanded. 

Dewott immediately stopped the Hydro Pump and dug underground. The sudden lack of resistance caused Aggron to speed up, causing him to crash into a tree. 

“Now attack!” Ash shouted.

Out from under Aggron, the ground began to shake, revealing Dewott as he came out of the hole and hit Aggron with a powerful Razor Shell. This was enough to send Aggron into the air.

“One last hit! Hydro Pump!” Ash shouted.

As soon as the water made contact, Aggron was out for the count, making Paul down another pokemon. 

“God damn it! What the hell is this?” Ash shouted. “You can’t be this bad! Show me a real challenge!”

“Damn it Ash!” Paul shouted. “Metagross!” 

“Dewott, come back!” Ash said. “Buizel!”

“Finish him quick! Meteor Mash!” Paul said. 

“Pivot, right foot.” Ash commanded. 

As Metagross approached, his swing was sidestepped.

“Close range Hydro Pump!” Ash shouted. 

At such a close range, the Metagross was knocked off balance, falling to the ground.

“Now, Aqua Dig!” Ash commanded. 

Buizel, now wrapped in water, moved through the ground at a breakneck pace. 

“Quickly, get up and use Earthquake!” Paul commanded.

But before Metagross could even get up, Buizel came out from underneath him, knocking him into the air. 

“Metagross! Go in close for a Hammer Arm!” Paul ordered.

“Wait for it Buizel!” Ash commanded. 

Metagross began charging at Buizel at a breakneck speed, uncharacteristic for a pokemon of his type. However, when the steel death trap arrived at Buizel, he did not swing, but just stood there. 

“Now! Explosion!” Paul commanded. 

“Buizel, now’s your chance!” Ash said.

Immediately, Metagross began glowing a white light, before exploding, sending dust in every direction. The explosion was powerful, enough to rival some legendaries.

The dust was still settling when Paul heard it. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it sounded like Ash was laughing.

“What are you laughing about?” Paul shouted across the destroyed battlefield. 

“HAHAHA! Why don’t you see for yourself?” Ash laughed as the dust settled.

“No... How? How is that even possible?!” Paul screamed.

Sure enough, as the dust cleared, Buizel was still standing, wrapped in a green barrier. Buizel was panting from the exertion he needed to keep up the Protect attack, but he was still on his feet. 

“You’ve become predictable Paul.” Ash said. “There was a time that I considered you my rival, but now you’re not even in my league any more.”

“What happened to you Ash?” Paul shouted. “The Ash I knew wasn’t like this! He respected his pokemon, and he didn’t just use them! What happened!?” 

“You’ve brought this upon yourself, Paul! Now hurry up and send out another!” Ash shouted back. “The sooner you’re defeated, the sooner Misty comes back with me.”

“Ah, so this is all about her, huh?” Paul asked.

“Shut up and send something out.” Ash commanded, returning Buizel. 

“Fine, go Dragonite!” Paul said, throwing out his pokeball. 

“Charizard! Let’s go!” Ash said, throwing out his pokemon. 

Jakaura POV

“God damn that kid!” Jakaura growled as he watched Ash fly away on his Charizard. 

As quickly as he could, Jakaura ran back to the group. “Wake up!” he shouted, but everyone remained asleep. 

“Damn it!” Jakaura shouted, slamming his fist into the ground, sending a weak Earthquake attack to wake everyone up. 

“Damn it!” Gary said. “Why’d you do that?” 

“Pikapi?” Pikachu mewed. 

“Hey where’s Ash?” Dawn asked. 

“That’s the point!” Jakaura said. “Now hurry up, we have to follow him!” And with that Jakaura ran off.

“Wait!” May shouted, running with the rest of the group to catch up to him, “Where’d he go?” 

“He saw Misty and he’s going to get her.” Jakaura answered. 

“And that’s a bad thing, how?” Gary asked.

“Trust me, he cannot see her right now!” Jakaura said, continuing to run. “Now hurry up!” 

It took a long time for the group to reach the battlefield. 

“Charizard! Let’s go!” Ash shouted.

“Wait, is that Ash?” Brock asked as they approached where they were. 

“He’s facing Paul?!” Gary said, “I thought you said he was going after Misty!” 

“He was!” Jakaura shouted. “That’s why this was an issue!” 

“Let’s go Dragonite! Hit him with a Aqua Tail!” Paul said. 

“No strategy again...” Ash sighed. “Fine! We’ll play your game! Charizard, Sky Drop!”

The dragons began charging at each other as fast as they could, not stopping for anything. When they finally came together, Charizard effortlessly caught Dragonite’s tail and flew him higher into the air.

“God damn it! Quick, hit him with a Draco Meteor!” Paul shouted to his dragon. 

Dragonite quickly began charging his most powerful attack, ready to release it on the unsuspecting fire dragon.  
“Charizard! Throw him down!” Ash shouted up.

Charizard immediately complied and sent the Dragonite plummeting down to the ground at a fast pace. 

“Fire it now!” Paul shouted. 

Dragonite took a moment to reorient himself as he flew closer and closer to the ground. At the last moment, Dragonite fired, soon after crashing into the ground. The meteor quickly broke into many pieces as they continued on their path to the mock dragon. 

“Knock them out of the sky! Heat Wave!” Ash shouted up. 

Charizard flapped his large wings, setting the surrounding air ablaze as it flew towards the incoming missiles. As soon as the scorching wind made it to the meteors, they were destroyed in their path, not a single one coming close to hitting the flying lizard. 

Meanwhile, Dragonite was struggling to get out of the crater he found himself in after the devastating attack from Charizard. Charizard took this time to land and retake his battle position. 

“Ash! Stop this!” Dawn shouted running out of the forest that concealed her and the others. 

“This isn’t you!” May shouted, joining Dawn outside. 

“Shut up you two!” Ash shouted back to them, “This is my battle, not yours!” 

“But you don’t even need to fight it!” Brock said, coming out of the forest.

“What’s the point?” Gary said, joining the rest of them. 

“He has Misty! And I’m not leaving without her!” Ash shouted, growing more and more furious with every second. 

“Pikapi!” Pikachu cried. 

“Damn it! Charizard, Flamethrower! Keep them from getting closer!” Ash commanded. 

Everyone was shocked by the order, even Paul, with his usual emotionless demeanor was astonished that Ash would even think of using an attack on a human. Especially his friends. 

Charizard growled in discontent, shaking his head, refusing to do such a thing to them.

“Charizard, you will obey!” Ash shouted to the dragon, his eyes glowing blue. Ash lifted his hand, glowing the same blue as his eyes, and thrust it at the lizard. Soon after, Charizard was engulfed in the same glow, and took off into the air. Charizard charged up the flames in his mouth, and after a few seconds, unleashed it towards the stunned people Ash knew as ‘friends’.

“Damn it, get down!” Jakaura shouted as he jumped in front of the flames. With lightning reflexes, he quickly formed a barrier large enough to keep everyone safe. “Quickly, run! I don’t know how long I can keep this up!” 

“Where do we go?” Brock asked, the only one willing to speak up in their situation. 

“Off the island. Go back to the camp, grab your stuff, and leave.” Jakaura said. “This place will soon become a warzone, and despite what’s happening now, Ash doesn’t want you caught in the crossfire.”

“Ok, come on guys! Let’s go!” Brock said, leading the group away. However, one member of the group did not agree with the notion of just leaving. With a leap, Pikachu jumped from May’s shoulder and ran into the forest, away from the campgrounds.

“Pikachu!” May shouted, turning around to get the mouse.

“Let him go!” Jakaura shouted, exhausted from the barrier, Charizard’s flames still licking around the edges. “He can’t leave yet, so let him go where he wants to!” 

May nodded and continued off with the rest of them. 

“Rahh!” Jakaura shouted, converting the barrier into a beam and pushing back the Dragon’s powerful flamethrower.

The beam continued to fight the flames, as Paul watch on with wonder. Never had he seen pokemon with such power, especially not from Ash. However, Paul was not about to let an opportunity like this go to waste, despite what had just happened. 

“Dragonite! Hit him with a Stone Edge!” Paul commanded, hoping to catch the Charizard off guard. 

Dragonite, who had long since recovered, concentrated and formed stones from the earth around him. When they had finally formed, the pseudo-legendary fired them at the unsuspecting dragon, who was still struggling with his battle with Jakaura.

“Charizard, cut the Flamethrower, fly down 3 feet, and use Blast Burn!” Ash commanded, confidently.

Charizard immediately listened, flying down to avoid the powerful attack by Jakaura, only to charge his most powerful. The flame on his tail grew as the flames in his maw changed from its usual red to blue to white. Charizard unleashed the flames, blasting straight through the Stone Edge, melting the rocks in its path. The attack finally reached Dragonite, and he was engulf into the white of the flame. When Charizard’s seemingly unrelenting flame ceased, the Dragonite was nowhere to be seen. All that was in the area was a pool of lava formed by the melted rocks Dragonite stood on. 

Quickly, Paul took out his pokeball and shot it’s beam into the newly formed lake of fire, happy to realize that Dragonite was successfully absorbed back into the pokeball, meaning he was still alive, if just barely.

“Well, are we going to finish?” Ash shouted over to Paul, who was looking at Dragonite’s pokeball depressedly. 

“You... You bastard!” Paul shouted. “Fine! You want my ace! Here it is! Electivire, show him how we do things.”

“Finally, some challenge. Charizard, come back.” Ash said, looking over to where his friends once were. “Pikachu, it’s your turn.” 

“Pikachu ran off. He isn’t here.” Jakaura said to him.

“Fine, I don’t need him, you’ll just battle in his place.” Ash said looking. 

“Fat chance I’ll battle for you in these conditions.” Jakaura said. 

“You will obey!” Ash said, his eyes and hand once again glowing blue. 

“You think that’ll work on me! Ha!” Jakaura shouted, forcing Ash out of his brain with a mere thought. 

“Fine, I don’t need either of you, I’ll fight myself.” Ash said, stepping into the ring. 

“What!?” A shocked Paul cried. ‘What does he think he’s doing? He’s going to get himself killed!’

“Come on, bring it!” Ash shouted. 

“Fine!” Paul shouted back, “Hit him with an Earthquake!”

Immediately after the order was made, Ash jumped into the air, avoiding the shockwaves from Electivire before they were even formed. The lava sloshed back and forth in it’s crater, it’s contents spilling over just slightly. 

Still in the air, Ash began charging an Aura Sphere in his hands. The longer the Earthquake continued, the more powerful the attack became. “You should stop the attack now, it’s only making things worse for your Electivire.” 

“How’s that?” Paul asked to the sky, where Ash had seemingly stopped falling. 

“The longer this continues, the more aura the earth releases, making my attack all the more powerful.” Ash smirked.

“Well you have to come down eventually!” PAul shouted.

“Does it look like I am?” Ash asked.

So it wasn’t just Paul’s imagination, Ash was just floating in the air. “Electivire stop!” Paul commanded.

Electivire stopped shaking the ground and began to stand up. “Perfect,” Ash smirked. “Rah!” And with that the Aura Sphere was thrown, barreling it’s way towards Electivire. When it made contact, a powerful explosion occurred. Dust was strewn every which way, making it impossible to see anything. When the smoke finally cleared, Electivire was struggling to stand up. 

“Well, seems like the fella has some fight left in him after all.” Ash laughed. “Maybe we should change that!”

“Damn it Ketchum!” Paul cried, “Electivire! Hit him with everything! Giga Impact!”

Electivire’s movements were labored at first, but as he continued, he picked up speed, going faster and faster. When he reached his top speed, he pushed further, gaining the powerful aura the attack is known for. But Electivire didn’t stop there. He continued to push. Past his extremes. To the point of no return. But Ash paid it no thought. 

When Electivire had made it across the battlefield to Ash, Ash just shrugged and disappeared, Electivire just passing through the area he was just standing in. But Electivire was going to fast, he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. 

“Oh, so close. Here, I’ll stop you.” Ash said as he raised both of his hands.

Within moments, Electivire had stopped moving forward and was suspended in the air for all to see. Ash continued to control Electivire’s flight pattern, moving him over the recently formed lava lake.

“No! You can’t do that!” Paul shouted. He already almost lost Dragonite, the only reason he survived was his resistance. Electivire wouldn’t last a second in there.

“You’re right, I’m not that evil.” Ash smirked, throwing Electivire into the nearby trees, knocking them down until the behemoth couldn’t move a muscle in resistance. 

“No, how?” Paul said, falling to his knees. “How could you do this? Your aura is too powerful, you defeated Electivire by yourself. How, how, HOW!!??” Paul was utterly defeated, unable to do anything.

“Now,” Ash said, approaching Paul and grabbing him by his collar. “Give me Misty back.”

“You want me?” Misty said, walking from the forest, flanked on either side by Ward and Jakaura, Pikachu resting on her shoulder. “Come and get me.”


	11. VS Ash

Misty POV

Misty woke with a jolt, quite literally. When she got up to find the culprit, she found a familiar yellow mouse at her feet, running around impatiently. When the mouse noticed she had awoken, he quickly jumped onto her shoulder. 

“Pikachupi!” Pikachu cried, “Pi pika Pikapi chupi!”

“What Pikachu?” Misty asked. Unlike Ash, she didn’t understand everything Pikachu could say. But she did pick up on keywords like Misty and Ash. “Where’s Ash?”

“Pika!” Pikachu mewed, jumping off her shoulder and running once again into the forest.

“I think we should follow him.” Ward said, announcing her presence.

“Right.” Misty said as she got up and ran after the lighting creature.

It hadn’t taken long for Misty to get to where Pikachu had stopped. When she came up next to him, Pikachu climbed up and took a place on her shoulder. 

“Oh my...” Ward said, as she caught up. 

Misty, confused at Ward’s reaction, finally took the time to look at where Pikachu had lead them. The landscape was scared, flames everywhere. You couldn’t take two steps between craters. Trees and branches were strewn about, their stumps left to burn in the flames. 

“Dragonite! Hit him with a Stone Edge!” someone yelled, shocking Misty from here dazed state. Looking to one of the sides of the clearing, her eyes fell upon Paul.

Paul’s Dragonite, clearly fatigued, stood up and fired it’s attack at some thing in the sky, unidentifiable to Misty from this distance.

“Charizard, cut the Flamethrower, fly down 3 feet, and use Blast Burn!” another man commanded, confidently.

Misty’s eyes shot to the other side of the field, where her eyes fell upon Ash. But there was something different about him. No longer was he the bright eyed trainer, always searching for the next big challenge. No, now his eyes were filled with a bloodlust uncharacteristic of him. 

Sickened by what she saw, her eyes immediately shifted back to the orange dot she had seen in the sky, now glowing brighter than before. Soon after the command was given, the flames erupted from him, flying down through the air with powerful furiousity. The white flames quickly consumed the Dragonite, the heat from the flames so intense Misty had to shield herself. When the flames finally died, nothing remained except a pool of lava.

“Oh my...” Misty said, sickened by what she saw. Ash had become ruthless, practically killing that Dragonite in a basic battle. What had happened to Ash to get him like this?

Quickly, Paul took out his pokeball and shot it’s beam into the newly formed lake of fire, happy to realize that Dragonite was successfully absorbed back into the pokeball, meaning he was still alive, if just barely.

“Well, are we going to finish?” Ash shouted over to Paul, who was looking at Dragonite’s pokeball depressedly. 

“You... You bastard!” Paul shouted. “Fine! You want my ace! Here it is! Electivire, show him how we do things.”

“Finally, some challenge. Charizard, come back.” Ash said, looking over to where his friends once were. “Pikachu, it’s your turn.” 

“Pikachu ran off. He isn’t here.” Jakaura said to him.

“Pi...” Pikachu mewed from Misty’s shoulder.

“Fine, I don’t need him, you’ll just battle in his place.” Ash said looking. 

“Fat chance I’ll battle for you in these conditions.” Jakaura said. 

“You will obey!” Ash said, his eyes and hand once again glowing blue. 

“You think that’ll work on me! Ha!” Jakaura shouted, forcing Ash out of his brain with a mere thought. 

“Fine, I don’t need either of you, I’ll fight myself.” Ash said, stepping into the ring. 

Misty wanted to shout out to him, to tell him not to do it. But she knew she couldn’t. At this point, nothing would stop him from joining the fight. 

Needless to say, Misty averted her eyes, not wanting to see the massacre that would be Ash if he went against that behemoth. 

“You know, you shouldn’t be worrying about him in the case.” Jakaura said approaching the group. “If anything, I would be scared for the Electivire.”

“How?” Misty asked, turning to the Lucario. “Ash can’t do anything about this! He’s going to die!”

“Ash has destroyed all of Paul’s Pokemon without having his hurt at all.” Jakaura explained. “His pure rage is fueling his aura to limits he never knew before. And if he uses any of that right now, he could easily kill the Electivire, especially defeat him.”

“What brought Ash to this?” Misty said, collapsing to her knees. “Why is he doing this?” 

“He saw you. You were with Paul.” Jakaura explained. “His rage of seeing you with him has pushed him to defeating Paul at any cost.”

“Me?” Misty asked as she looked out onto the battlefield. Electivire was struggling to get back to his feet, Ash was hovering a few feet over the ground, not showing any signs of fatigue.

“Damn it Ketchum!” Paul cried, “Electivire! Hit him with everything! Giga Impact!”

Paul’s Electivire began charging at Ash, showing no signs of stopping for anything. But Ash couldn’t have cared any less. He just continued to float there, stationery, waiting for Electivire to strike. When Electivire had made it across the battlefield to Ash, Ash just shrugged and disappeared, Electivire just passing through the area he was just standing in. But Electivire was going to fast, he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. 

“Oh, so close. Here, I’ll stop you.” Ash said as he raised both of his hands.

Within moments, Electivire had stopped moving forward and was suspended in the air for all to see. Ash continued to control Electivire’s flight pattern, moving him over the recently formed lava lake.

“Ash...” Misty said, silently pleading with him to stop.

“No! You can’t do that!” Paul shouted. He already almost lost Dragonite, the only reason he survived was his resistance. Electivire wouldn’t last a second in there.

“You’re right, I’m not that evil.” Ash smirked, throwing Electivire into the nearby trees, knocking them down until the behemoth couldn’t move a muscle in resistance. 

“No, how?” Paul said, falling to his knees. “How could you do this? Your aura is too powerful, you defeated Electivire by yourself. How, how, HOW!!??” 

“Now,” Ash said, approaching Paul and grabbing him by his collar. “Give me Misty back.”

Misty couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t stand seeing Ash act like this. She had to do something. “You want me?” Misty said, walking from the forest. “Come and get me.”

“Misty!” Ash said, letting go of Paul. “Finally, he’s defeated. You can come back with me.”

“No! Ash!” Misty cried. “What happened?”

“What do you mean, Misty?” Ash asked, approaching her.

“Paul, go to the next city, I’ll get there later.” Misty said. Paul immediately listened, running off to get help for his Dragonite and Electivire. 

“Misty...” Ash said. “I came for you. You can’t just leave me.”

“Ash, you’ve changed. I just saw you try to kill a pokemon.” Misty shouted. “That isn’t you.”

“But I did it for you.” Ash said, continuing his advance.

“I never asked you to. You’ve changed.” Misty said, backing away. “You need time, so I’m leaving.”

As soon as she said this, she regretted it. Ash once again became angry, his eyes glowing blue. “If you won’t came willingly, I’ll make you come.” With that said, Ash thrust his hand, which glew a blue aura. Before the aura could reach Misty, however, Jakaura jumped in front and intercepted it. 

“I guess we’re gonna have to do this the hard way.” Jakaura said. “Pikachu, Ward, give me a hand.” 

“On it!” Ward cried as she and Pikachu joined him out on the battlefield. 

“Hmph, more distractions.” Ash smirked. “Out of my way!” And with that, Ash fired a beam of aura, aimed directly at Jakaura. 

“Nice try!” Jakaura said, as he countered the beam with one of his own.

For a long time, neither side showed signs of relenting. But suddenly, Ash began overpowering his more experienced opponent. “Well, I guess you’re the chosen one for a reason.” Jakaura managed. “Pikachu, now!”

Hoping to catch him off guard, Pikachu jumped from Ash’s right and fired a powerful Thunder attack. When the attack hit, dust was thrown in every direction. When the dust finally cleared, A barrier was seen where Pikachu’s attack had hit, sustained by one of Ash’s hands. Despite having to focus his aura in two different places, Ash was still overpowering Jakaura in terms of stamina. 

Suddenly, Jakaura disappeared, reappearing a second later next to Ash. Hoping to get a quick punch in, the Lucario was disappointed when Ash caught the fist, despite cutting himself on the spike. “I’m proud of you, Jakaura. You’re the first one to be able to do anything to me today.” Ash smirked. “Sadly, that’s all that will happen.” And with that, Jakaura was thrown away.

Giovanni POV

“The chosen one’s been hurt.” A voice said from his radio.

“Is he bleeding?” Giovanni replied. 

“Yes, he has a cut on his right hand, it isn’t bleeding too much, but he definitely is.” The grunt answered.

“Good. Report anything else you see directly to me.” Giovanni said, cutting communications with the man. “Now, let’s see if our theory holds out.”

Jakaura POV

“Ward!” Jakaura yelled. “Any time now!”

“I need a little more time!” Ward shouted back. “Distract him more!” 

“Fine, Pikachu let’s go!” Jakaura said running back into the fray.

“I can help!” Misty said, reaching for a pokeball. 

“No! Stay back!” Jakaura shouted back to her. “There’s no need for your pokemon to get hurt.”

“Fine.” Misty said, taking a step back. 

“Pikachu, Volt Tackle!” Jakaura shouted, as he ran in with a powerful Bone Rush. 

“Hmph, predictable as usual.” Ash said as he easily caught Jakaura’s bone. 

As Pikachu approached, Ash was preparing himself. When Pikachu had reached him, Ash jumped onto Jakaura’s bone, forcing Pikachu to crash into the surprised Lucario, knocking them both down. 

“Ward!” Jakaura yelled, struggling to his feet. 

“Hyah!” Ward shouted as she fired her full power Stored Power at Ash. However, unlike its usual explosion, the attack was now focused into a beam.

The attack barreled down the battlefield, destroying anything and everything in it’s path to Ash. But Ash didn’t move a muscle, not even to block it. The attack hit, and dust was thrown everywhere. 

When the dust finally cleared, Ash wasn’t alone. Now, standing between Ash and Ward, was a light purple creature, about a foot taller than Ash, with a long purple tail.

“Well, well. It’s about time you got here.” Ash said. 

“You will not hurt the Chosen One any further!” Mewtwo said, charging up a Shadow Ball. 

“That’ll be all Mewtwo, I don’t seem to need any assistance in this battle.” Ash said. “You can leave.” 

“Of course.” And with that Mewtwo took off back into the sky, leaving all staring as he left.

“I just thought I should show you the power I possess.” Ash answered the question they all wanted to ask. “The only reason I allowed you to make me bleed was for that reason.” 

“Damn it, How’d you figure out?” Jakaura asked. 

“With the power I have right now, a man can find out anything he wants to know, even secrets hidden inside themselves.” Ash answered, returning to a battle pose. “Now, where were we.”

“Thunder Wave!” Jakaura shouted.

Despite his fast reflexes, Ash could not stop himself from being hit by the attack from Pikachu, who had snuck his way next to him, taking advantage of his opponent’s incapacitation, Jakaura took him into the air with a Psychic attack.

“You should’ve never let Mewtwo leave.” Jakaura growled. “Remember that that is why you lost today.”

“Lost!” Ash said. “You can’t beat me.” 

Ash continued to struggle against the Psychic, but never got any further than moving his limbs slightly.

“Give up!” Jakaura said. 

“Make me!” Ash growled.

“Fine” And as he said that, he began to hover Ash over to the lake of lava that his charizard had formed not an hour ago.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Ash said cockily. “You need me, without my help you won’t get anywhere.”

“We’ll make due.” Jakaura said, dropping Ash into the lava.

“Ash!” Misty said, running to the sea of flames, hoping to see him floating above the surface. But as she looked over the edge, she saw nothing but the bright orange glow of the lava.

Misty broke down. She couldn’t believe that he was gone. Ash, the boy who saved the world millions of time, was gone. And it was all her fault. If she just left with him, he would still be here. But no, now he was gone. 

“Get her and Pikachu out of here.” Jakaura said to Ward. “Take them to the next city, get her to sleep.”

“What about you?” Ward asked. “What will you do?” 

“I have business to attend to.” Jakaura answered, not looking at Ward.

“Ok, but be careful, I don’t want to lose you again.” Ward said, grabbing Misty.

“NO! I can’t leave, Ash is still down there!” Misty cried out through the tears. “He can’t die!” 

But her cries were in vain, as ward teleported the three of them to Sagittarius Town.

When they left, Jakaura sat beside the lake and shut his eyes. 

Giovanni POV

“Giovanni, sir.” Giovanni’s radio blared.

“Report.” Giovanni replied.

“We have 2 good news and 1 bad news.” the grunt reported.

“Well, start with what’s good.” Giovanni said.

“First off, we have confirmed that if he bleeds then a legendary pokemon will come to his aid. Secondly, we have successfully obtained Mewtwo.” the grunt answered.

“Excellent.” Giovanni smirked. “And the bad news?”

“Well, Ketchum is dead.” The grunt replied. 

“What!?” Giovanni shouted.

“He was pushed into lava.” The grunt replied, shaken by his bosses anger. “There’s no way he could’ve survived.”

“This complicates things.” Giovanni responds, “Dismissed.” 

Misty POV

“No!” Misty shouted, but it was too late. Ward had already teleported them to the Sagittarius Town Pokemon Center.

“Misty?” a voice from behind her asked. As Misty turned around, she saw none other than Paul. “What’s wrong?”

“Ash is.... He’s...” Misty stuttered, trying to get the words out, but Misty didn’t need to say another thing before Paul put a hand on her shoulder.

“Everything will be ok. We’ll move on.” Paul said, pulling her into an embrace.

Misty didn’t respond, opting just to accept the hug and cry into Paul’s shoulders.

 

Jakaura POV

Jakaura had been sitting in the same place for some time now, waiting. Suddenly, the lake began to gurgle. Jakaura walked to the edge, only to smirk. Walking from the lake was a man shaped creature, with orange wings, powerful claws, and a tail, set ablaze on the end.

“Took you long enough to get out of there.” Jakaura smirked.

The man could only chuckle, before glowing a white light and splitting in two, both entities collapsing on the spot.


	12. New Beginnings

Jakaura POV

“Again!” Jakaura shouted.

“Hrah!” the man roared, attempting to hit Jakaura with an Aura Sphere. Sadly, this attempt was like all the others, ending with Ash getting beaten onto his ass. 

“Come on, you aren’t gonna be able to get revenge on Team Rocket like that!” Jakaura shouted. “For now we’ll move on. Bring out Charizard.”

“Fine, Charizard! Let’s get this started!” the man shouted, bringing out his pokemon. 

“Now, Burst!” Jakaura shouted.

“Hyah!” The man and his Charizard were enveloped in a white light, blinding to anyone who looked at it. When the light faded, neither of the two were standing there anymore. In their place was one entity, a man, but with the wings and tail of Charizard. His skin had been stained orange, and his clothing morphed to that of Charizard. His claws were sharp, easily able to cut down anyone who crossed his path.

“We’ll work on maintaining this.” Jakaura said. “Let’s see how long this will last.”

“Come on, can’t we fight?” the man asked.

“Calm down Satoshi, the time will come.” Jakaura answered. “Now focus!”

Misty POV

“Are you ready to get going?” Paul asked Misty, who was standing at the Sagittarius Town Pokemon Center entrance. 

“Can we go to where he died, one last time?” Misty asked. “After that, we can keep going.” 

“Of course, anything you want.” Paul answered as they left. 

Two weeks had passed since the incident in the woods. Most of the time, Misty had been cooped up in her room at the center, mourning the loss of Ash. When she finally got a hold of herself, she and Paul went to challenge the gym, Misty using all of her anger to pull out her stellar victory. Now, they were getting ready to keep going on their journey.

“You sure you want to see this?” Paul asked. “It could just make you feel worse.”

“No, I’m sure.” Misty said. “I have to grow out of it eventually.”

Jakaura POV

“You sure you want to see this?” A voice from their right asked. “It could just make you feel worse.”

‘What? People coming this deep into the forest?’ Jakaura thought. 

“No, I’m sure.” a much more feminine voice said. “I have to grow out of it eventually.”

“Shit!” Jakaura said, running over to Satoshi and quickly running into a tree. 

Out of the forest came none other than Misty and Paul, emerging into the arena where a war was fought not a month ago. 

“Who is that?” Satoshi asked, looking at the two intruders.

“Two people that should not be here.” Jakaura answered. 

“Team Rocket!” Satoshi immediately assumed, jumping into the air and using his wings to keep him afloat. 

“No, they can’t know you’re alive!” Jakaura shouted. But Satoshi wouldn’t listen, vouching just to attack with an Ember attack.

The Ember landed just in front of the two, causing them to jump back a few steps. “Consider that a warning!” Satoshi said, coming to land in front of them. “Now, leave my home at once!”

“What, what is that?” Paul asked, taking a step back.

“I, I don’t know.” Misty said.

“I’ll say it once more! Leave here now!” Satoshi shouted, charging the flames in his claws. 

“Please! My friend died here just two weeks ago!” Misty said, approaching the monstrosity. “Let us pay our respects, we’ll leave immediately after.”

Satoshi put his arm down, letting the flames die down. “I understand. I have also lost people, so I know what you’re going through.” And with those words said, Satoshi allowed himself to separate from his Dragon, putting him in front of his new found friends. “My name is Satoshi. Pleased to meet you.”

“My name is Misty, and this is Paul.” Misty said, extending her hand. 

“Pika!” Pikachu cried.

“Oh yea, and this is Pikachu.” Misty added with a grin.

Satoshi extended his hand as well and shook hands with Misty. 

“So what was your friend’s name?” Satoshi asked, walking over to the lake of lava.

“Ash, he died in this very lake not two weeks ago.” Misty said, with a sigh.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad.” Satoshi said.

“Oh no, it’s fine.” Misty said, faking a smile. “So what are you doing out here?” 

“Training. It’s the only way for me to get revenge.” Satoshi said, glaring at the lake in rage.

“Revenge?” Paul asked. 

“Team Rocket. They killed all of my friends in front of me., the only ones who survived was me and my mentor.” Satoshi revealed.

“Oh my..” Misty gasped, covering her mouth. 

“Who’s your mentor?” Paul asked. 

“That would be me.” a man said walking from the forest, waving.

“Who are you?” Misty asked.

“My name is Aaron, Satoshi’s mentor.” Aaron answered.

“Nice to meet you, Aaron.” Misty said.

“You as well.” Aaron replied.

“Well Misty, we might as well keep going.” Paul said. “It was nice meeting you two.”

“You as well.” Satoshi said.

“Do you have a pokegear?” Misty asked. “If you do, here’s my number. Let’s stay in contact.” And with that, Misty and Paul left the clearing.

“God, you’re lucky she was here to disguise us.” Aaron said, as he morphed back into Jakaura.

“Who are you talking about?” Satoshi asked. 

Out of the tree came none other than Ward, the psychic. “It’s nice to see you again, Satoshi.”

“Hm? Do I know you?” Satoshi asked.

“More like I know you. We’ll meet again.” Ward answered, and in an instant, she was gone. 

“Now, let’s get back to it! Burst again!” Jakaura shouted.

“Again?” Satoshi asked disappointed.

Misty POV

“Well he seemed nice.” Misty said, referring to the man they had just met.

“Yea, I love it when a half man half dragon greets you by throwing fire in your face.” Paul added sarcastically.

“Oh, come on.” Misty defended, “He was just confused.” 

“If that’s how you want to put it.” Paul muttered.

“I’ll have to agree with Misty on this one.” Ward said from behind them.

“Jeez, Ward!” Misty said, jumping slightly. “You can’t just do that!”

“So where were you?” Paul asked.

“I was meeting up with Jakaura.” Ward answered. “I wanted to see how he was doing.” 

“Pfft, of course you were.” Paul said.

“Hey, don’t go around accusing her of anything.” Misty reprimanded.

“Yea, yea.” Paul said, “So what was with that guy?”

“Satoshi?” Misty asked. “What about him?”

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that he was a fucking half dragon hybrid!?” Paul shouted. 

“Well, you can’t say that’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen!” Misty shouted back.

“I think I have enough reason for that to be the strangest thing in existence!” Paul retorted.

“Well things like this were a common occurrence with Ash, so I guess you wouldn’t be used to it.” Misty said, bringing the conversation to an end.

“My, it seems that you had a fun time without me.” Ward said, chuckling.

Satoshi POV

“Hey, Satoshi!” Jakaura shouted from across the clearing to where Satoshi was training with his pokemon.

“Yea?” Satoshi shouted back, trying to stay focused on his training. 

“Come here!” Jakaura said.

“Fine!” Satoshi sighed, making his way to Jakaura. “What is it?”

“It’s time for you to get back into battles.” Jakaura said. “We’ll start at where you left off, come on.”

“Wait, where’s that?” Satoshi asked, catching up with Jakaura.

“We were at Jupiter, the Virgo City Gym Leader.” Jakaura said. “He uses electric, what’s your plan?” 

“I think I’ll use you, Sceptile, and Heracross.” Satoshi said confidently.

“Hmph, who said I would be helping?” Jakaura said, smirking.

“Aww, come on!” Satoshi begged.

“Nope, now let’s get a move on.” Jakaura said, picking up the pace.

“Sheesh, you’re such a hassle.” Satoshi said, running to catch up.

After a few minutes, They had arrived at Virgo City, but the sun was beginning to set.

“Well, the Gym won’t open until morning, let’s get a room at the pokemon center.” Jakaura said, continuing to walk down the road. 

“Ok, then in the morning I can beat this badge and move on.” Satoshi said, clenching his fist in anticipation. 

Grunt Leader POV

“Come on, move it!” the leader shouted from his position at the truck. “These boxes aren’t going to move themselves!” 

Now this was the life. No longer was he a weak grunt like the rest of these lowlifes, now he had authority. His own squad. After all those years of taking verbal abuse from his superiors, he could now dish it out.

“The boxes are all loaded!” a grunt said, walking up to him.

“Good!” the leader shouted, “Everyone get in the truck.” 

The grunts followed orders and began to approach the truck. But before they could get to it, fire flew from the sky, blocking their path. 

“Who’s there?” the leader said, looking towards the source of the flames. What he saw was a terror to anyone who dare stood against it. A demon, sent straight from the flames of hell, was here to take him. But he wouldn’t go down without a fight. “Grunts, attack!”

The grunts, despite their best efforts, lasted no more than a minute against the terror in front of them. Each one of them and their pokemon were torn to shreds. None of them stood a chance against a demon.

The leader began backing away from the abomination, reaching towards his side in search of his gun. The demon made no attempt to end him quickly, slowly walking towards him, read to strike at any moment. 

Finally, like a saving grace, the mans hand fell upon his gun. At a speed he never knew he could get to, he took out his gun and fired a shot directly at the demons head. Direct hit, the demon’s head flew back from the force of the bullet.

“Heh.. heheh... HAHAHAHAH!” After such a terrifying experience, the man could do nothing but laugh. He was alive! Somehow, he survived.

“Well, that hurt.” A voice in front of him said, causing him to freeze in fear.

The demon faced forward again, not a single scratch on his face from where the bullet made impact. 

“Now, you have guts. So I’m going to let you live.” The demon said, approaching the man. “That and you’re the only one left for this task.”

Silence. That’s all that came after the demon’s words. He would live? Really? What did the demon want from him?

“Ah, not much of a talker. I understand, seeing all of those people killed in front of you must’ve been traumatizing.” The demon said, making the last step between the two of them. “Now, I have one mission for you in turn for your life. Do you understand?”

Not trusting his voice, the former leader just nodded his head. 

“Good. I want you to get a message to Giovanni for me.” the demon said. “But first, I must put my mark.”

The demon reached out and grabbed the man by the arm, pulling him close. The simple touch to the demon was enough to sear his skin.

“When they ask you how you got this mark, and how your entire attachment was torn to ribbons, just tell them, Satoshi is back.” the half man, half dragon whispered into the man’s ear. “And he will not stop until each and every Rocket scum is dead.” 

That was the last the man heard before he passed out from the pain.


	13. VS Jupiter

Giovanni POV

“And that’s all that happened?” Giovanni asked, facing away from the young man who requested an urgent audience with him.

“Yes sir.” the man said.

“Then you are dismissed.” Giovanni said without a second thought.

“Yes sir.” And with that the man left the room, quickly followed by another person walking into the room. 

“Damn it!” Giovanni cursed, slamming his fist into his desk.

“Do you think it’s him?” the person asked.

“Of course, who else would it be?” Giovanni questioned.

“Well, what are you going to do about it?” the person pushed.

“It’s not what I’m going to do about it.” Giovanni smirked, “It’s what you’ll do.”

“Another undercover operation?” the person smirked. “My specialty.”

“Then I don’t expect you to disappoint.” Giovanni said, turning around again. “Dismissed.”

Satoshi POV

“Well, let’s get going!” Satoshi said, practically jumping out of the pokemon center. “We have to get that badge.”

“Do you have a plan?” Jakaura asked. “If I might remind you, I won’t be helping in this battle. You can only use your pokemon.”

“If it gets to that point, I’ll think of something, but for now, let’s just get started.” Satoshi said, turning the corner, only to walk into a police line. 

“What is this?” Jakaura asked.

“I don’t know, let’s ask.” Satoshi said, approaching an officer. “Excuse me, what happened here?”

“I have no idea.” the officer explained, “When we got here, there wasn’t anything else. It was just a bloodbath.”

“My god...” Satoshi gasped, “Who could’ve done this?”

“Most people seem to think what. No human could’ve done this, without the help of a pokemon that is.” the officer answered.

“Oh, well thank you.” Satoshi said as he left and continued on his path to the gym.

“Hello?” Satoshi asked as he walked into the gym. 

“Finally, another challenger!” a voce rained from further in. After a few seconds, a man walked from the battlefield, with a huge smile on his face. “I’ve wanted to test myself ever since that girl humiliated me.”

“Well, prepare to be humiliated again.” Satoshi said confidently.

“Haha! That’s the spirit!” The gym leader laughed. “The name’s Jupiter, yours?”

“My name’s Satoshi.” Satoshi answered.

“Well Satoshi, let’s get this started!” Jupiter said as he walked to his side of the battlefield.

“Ready when you are.” Satoshi smirked.

“That’s what I like to hear! Raichu!” Jupiter shouted throwing out his first pokemon. 

“Let’s go, Heracross!” Satoshi said, throwing his pokeball.

“Raichu, hit him with a Thunderbolt!” Jupiter commanded.

Raichu began charging his attack before releasing it, scoring a direct hit on Heracross.

“Shake it off, hit it with a Megahorn!” Satoshi shouted.

Heracross extended his wings, his horn glowing white. The beetle rushed forward, slamming into the giant mouse his his horn.

“Now, transition into Close Combat.” Satoshi ordered.

Before Raichu was able to react, Heracross began pounding him backwards, putting all of his power into his punches and kicks. When the onslaught ended, Raichu fell onto his back, unable to battle.   
“Well, you show some promise. Let’s go, Luxray!” Jupiter said.

When the Lionesque pokemon came out, he was directly in front of Heracross, unable to move away from his Close Combat.

“Take him out!” Jupiter commanded. “Fire Fang!”

“Endure!” Satoshi shouted quickly.

Bracing himself for what would be a powerful attack, Heracross put up his arms. But that did not stop Luxray from biting him, his jaw coated in flames. The flames were powerful, leaving a burn.

“Now, Reversal.” Satoshi ordered.

As soon as Luxray released Heracross, the beetle grabbed him by the neck and flipped him over his shoulder into the round, causing massive damage. However, as soon as he pulled off the attack, Heracross succumbed to his burn and fainted. Luxray was still on his feet, however slightly. 

“Good job, Heracross.” Satoshi said returning his pokemon. “Let’s go, Sceptile!”

“Hit him with Wild Charge!” Jupiter commanded.

Coating himself in electricity, Luxray charged at Sceptile, hitting him and forcing him back a few feet. However, the attack was too much for Luxray, making him faint.

“Risky move there.” Satoshi observed. “You might have been able to do more with him still up and running.”

“Care to look again?” Jupiter smirked.

As Satoshi looked at his Sceptile, it was obvious that he was seriously injured. He could still fight, but just barely. 

“Well, well. I underestimated you.” Satoshi said.

“Exactly, now, let’s go Electrode!” Jupiter said throwing his third pokemon. “Hit him with a Thunderbolt!”

As soon as the pokemon was released from his pokeball, he fired off a bolt of electricity, hitting Sceptile square in the chest, causing him to fall to his knees.

“Hang in there, Sceptile! Hit him with a Leaf Blade!” Satoshi commanded.

When Sceptile got a hold of himself, he sprang into action, extending his blades and slashing the Electrode, causing him to roll away.

“Use the momentum, Rollout!” Jupiter commanded. 

Turning around, Electrode barreled towards Sceptile, running him down and knocking him out. 

“Good job, Sceptile.” Ash said, returning the defeated pokemon to his ball. “Charizard, Sky Drop!”

Released from his prison, Charizard flew towards Electrode at a breakneck speed, picking him up and bringing him into the air. 

“Now Drop!” Satoshi shouted. Immediately, Charizard began flying towards the ground, Electrode in tow. 

“Explosion!” Jupiter shouted. Without a seconds notice, Electrode exploded, catching Charizard in the blast. Charizard, having no control over his flight, was sent careening into the ground, resulting in a double knockout.

“Come back Electrode. Go, Eelektross.” Jupiter said. “Well, it seems like this is the end of the road. If you had anything better to face me than a Charizard, then you would’ve used them.”

‘He’s right, both Dewott and Buizel are weak to electricity. There’s nothing I can do to beat him.’ Satoshi thought.

Suddenly from Satoshi’s side of the field, a shadow ball shot out and hit the Eelektross.

“What?” Jupiter exclaimed.

Materializing on Satoshi’s side of the field was a Haunter, chuckling at the prank that it had just pulled. 

“Hmph, took you long enough.” Jakaura smirked.

“Well, I wanted it to be dramatic.” Ward said, walking up next to Jakaura. 

“Well, there you go Satoshi!” Jakaura shouted down from the stands. “There’s your last pokemon!”

“Well, then this should be interesting!” Satoshi said, “Haunter, Hypnosis!”

As soon as Haunter willed it, Eelektross fell asleep.

“Wake up, Eelektross!!” Jupiter shouted, but it was to no avail. Haunter was out like a light, and he wouldn’t be waking up for awhile. 

“Let’s finish this off, Dream Eater!” Satoshi commanded, Haunter immediately going in to quench his thirst. When he had had his fill, Eelektross had been completely drained, unable to battle any further. 

“Eelektross, return.” Jupiter said, returning his final pokemon. “Congratulations, Satoshi. You sure surprised me with that Haunter, but a win’s a win. I hereby present you with the primary Eel badge.”

“Great, thanks.” Satoshi said as he grabbed the badge from the leader.

“I suggest going to Sagittarius City, you’ll find the next gym leader there.” Jupiter explained.

“Thanks, well, let’s get going Jakaura!” Satoshi shouted into the stands. 

“Well, its been fun, but it seems my train’s leaving station.” Jakaura said, standing up.

“I wish the two of you well.” Ward said as she teleported off. 

As the two left the gym, they quickly made their way to the exit of the city, wanting to continue on their quest.

Grunt POV

“There’s the target!” the grunt said.

“I can see that, everyone get into position!” their leader shouted. 

Satoshi POV

“Hey, Jakaura?” Satoshi questioned.

“Hm?” Jakaura answered.

“Why am I going back into battling?” Satoshi asked. “It’s only delaying my training and my revenge.” 

“We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. Though you seemed to do that by yourself without my help last night.” Jakaura glared.

“What?” Satoshi asked shocked.

“You can’t fool me, I know that thing we passed in the city was your doing.” Jakaura revealed “I’d recognize Charizard’s burst aura anywhere.”

“You know I can’t just sit there when Team Rocket’s doing things. They all need to pay.” Satoshi said, clenching his fists.

“Help!” A voice shouted from further down the path. 

“Hurry up, Jakaura!” Satoshi rushed, running towards the cry for help.

When the two arrived at the scene, they saw a blonde haired girl on the ground, breathing heavily. In front of her was a defeated Roserade, and further forward were three Team Rocket grunts, their grins reaching their ears. 

“You Rocket scum!” Satoshi shouted as he approached. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Hey look, the girl has some friends.” one grunt smirked.

“Hey, run off now. This doesn’t concern you.” another grunt chuckled.

“Now, you’ve made me mad.” Satoshi growled. “Jakaura, make sure she’s ok, I’ll deal with these punks.”

“Ha! What makes you think you can do that?” The final grunt, the seemingly leader, questioned.

“Haunter, let’s see what we can do.” Satoshi said, taking out the ghost pokeball. “Burst!”

A bright light enveloped Satoshi, and when it faded, Satoshi had lost his legs and arms, the only things left were his body and hands, his entirety cloaked in an eerie purple light. 

“H..he.... he’s the demon!” one of the grunts shouted. 

“We have to go! Giovanni ordered for everyone to avoid him at all costs!” the other grunt screamed.

“No way! I want to see what this man can do.” the leader said as his subordinates ran off. “Let’s go Golurk!”

“Big mistake!” Satoshi said as he vanished in a split second. 

“Quit your hiding!” the leader shouted. “Fight me like a man!” 

“If you say so.” Satoshi whispered into the man’s ear. But when he turned around, it was too late. Satoshi already had his Shadow Ball fully charged. Not a second later, the ghastly energy was unleashed on the man, corrupting him from the inside out. The man’s eyes went black as he fell to his knees, before falling completely over, not stirring in the slightest. 

“You’re free, get out of here.” Satoshi said as he broke the pokeball that once contained Golurk. The ancient golem took no time before he fled the scene. 

“Hey, are you alright?” Satoshi asked as he approached the girl. She could not have been more than 6 years older than him, and she was shaking. As Satoshi continued walking forward, she took no time in backing away from the man-ghost.

“Don’t worry. I’m a friend.” Satoshi reasoned as he reverted back into himself, reaching his hand out. “You can trust me.” 

Admittedly hesitant at first, the girl reached out and grabbed his hand, allowing him to bring her to her feet. 

“What’s your name?” Satoshi asked, grinning.

“M...my.. my name’s Alice.” the girl stuttered. 

“My name’s Satoshi, are you alright? Those scum didn’t hurt you or anything.” Satoshi asked.

“I’m fine, thank you.” Alice answered.

“Why was Team Rocket attacking you?” Jakaura asked.

“I don’t know. They’ve been following me for awhile now.” Alice answered. 

“Well stick with us. We’ll be able to keep care of you from now on.” Satoshi grinned.

“Oh, I couldn’t.” Alice said, looking to the ground.

“Nonsense. I insist.” Satoshi persisted.

“If you say so, I just don’t want to be a bother.” Alice said, barely above a whisper.

“Well, let’s get going.” Satoshi shouted as he began running down the path.

Allowing a small grin to grace her face, Alice watched down the path as Satoshi ran away. “Hey, wait up!” And with that, she ran after the boy, giggling all the way.


	14. Alice's Uniques

Satoshi POV

“So what do you do?” Satoshi asked as they continued down the path to Sagittarius Town.

“I’m an investigative reporter, for a few months, I’ve been looking into what Team Rockets been doing, trying to see why they’ve suddenly shown up here.” Alice answered. “Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering, you don’t seem too much like a trainer yourself.” Satoshi said with a shrug.

“Oh, and what’s that supposed to mean?” Alice asked,

“You don’t seem conditioned to the trainer life, like hiking mountains, running through forest, that kinda stuff.” Satoshi said with a grin.

“Geez, you make it almost impossible for anyone to be mad at you. But I’ll have you know, I’ve done all that and more.” Alice said, crossing her arms. “It’s not easy infiltrating a place and blending in seamlessly.”

“Obviously, seeing as you messed up.” Satoshi chuckled. 

“Excuse me?” Alice asked, obviously annoyed at his jab. 

“Well if Team Rocket found you out and chased you down, then obviously you didn’t do too good of a job.” Satoshi said, as if the fact was obvious.

“Oh, you’ve done it now, bring it on if you think you’re so tough.” Alice said, stepping in front of Satoshi.

“You really want to do this?” Satoshi chuckled, “I don’t think you know what you’re dealing with.”

“If you’re gonna be like this, then I’ll prove to you my strength, both on and off the Pokebattlefield.” Alice said with a smirk.

“On and off?” Satoshi asked, obviously confused. 

“Yup, both battling with pokemon, and good old fashioned brawling between the two of us, one weapon each.” Alice’s smirk grew, “Of course, whatever you did with your Haunter back there, that’s off limits.”

“Fine, let’s get this started.” Satoshi grinned, “You’re confidence is getting to me, so I’ll make a deal, you beat two of my pokemon, then you win that round.”

“No way.” Alice said as she walked away, making room for their pokemon to duke it out, “Don’t underestimate me, I want to face them all.” 

“If you say so, let’s get this started.” Satoshi cried, throwing out a pokemon. “Go, Charizard!”

The flaming dragon flew out of the pokeball with a roar, jumping into the sky to stretch his wings. 

“Well, starting off strong, might as well do the same!” Alice said, throwing out her pokeball. 

Out of the orb cam the only pokemon of the girl’s that they were familiar, her Roserade. 

“A Roserade to face my Charizard? I was right, you do have no skills as a trainer.” Satoshi smirked.

“You’d be surprised, all of my pokemon have an ability to separate them from the rest of the crowd, by far.” Alice replied.

“Doesn’t make much of a difference. Charizard, finish it quick, Flamethrower!” Satoshi commanded. 

Charizard obeyed immediately, opening his jaw and spewing flames towards his opponent. But instead of moving, the rose pokemon stood there, being engulfed in flames.

“That should be good.” Satoshi shouted over the roar of the flames, “Return her so we can continue with the battle.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Alice smirked. Just then, a deafening roar was heard from the flames, and a lightning bolt shot from the smoke and struck Charizard directly, grounding him temporarily.

“What the?” Satoshi said as he looked into the flames. From the other side he could see two glowing red eyes glaring at him, before the flames were doused and Roserade was again standing there.

“Damn it, don’t let up Charizard! Hit her with a Steel Wing!” Satoshi shouted, getting furious. 

“Haha! You know what to do next!” Alice laughed.

Charizard flew towards Roserade at breakneck speeds, his wings hardening and sharpening like the most tempered of steels. However, Roserade was again unfazed, unmoving until the very last second, when she seemingly vanished into the ground.

“Charizard, keep in the air!” Satoshi ordered.

“That won’t help you! Frenzy Plant!” Alice commanded, catching Satoshi off guard.

From out of Charizard’s shadow, vines lashed out and grabbed onto the flying dragon, quickly pulling him towards the ground. As he was being pulled, Roserade appeared out of the ground of his shadow and was being pushed up by another vine, the roses on her hands being changed into sharp thorns. When the two collided, the thorns were thrust into Charizard’s stomach, forcing him into the air once again. When Charizard landed, he struggled to stand. 

“Well, seeing as you experienced it, I might as well tell you about what my Roserade can do. Not only is it a master of all moves Grass, but it also is a master of electricity.” Alice said with a smirk.

“Charizard, return.” Satoshi said.

“Oh, is your Charizard already out of the battle? Shame, we only just started toying with him” Alice laughed.

“Oh, he isn’t done. I just don’t think he’s the best equipped to deal with the current pokemon.” Satoshi chuckled. 

“What are you talking about?” Alice said, taken aback. “A Fire and Flying against a Grass? That’s a perfect choice.”

“Quit trying to fool me, we both know what that pokemon really is. You thought I wouldn’t catch the roar? The glowing red eyes? The Faint Attack? So what it seems like your Zoroark’s ability is to always be able to have its Illusion up.” Satoshi revealed.

“Not only that, but he copies the moves of the pokemon he disguises as.” Alice added, “But enough delay, hurry up and send out your next pokemon.” 

“He’s already out.” Satoshi smirked, looking into the air above Zoroark.

As soon as he finished, Heracross started plummeting down towards the ground, his fist reeled back, gaining power by the second. By the time Zoroark noticed, Heracross had already drilled his powerful Focus Punch into the the fox’s face, forcing him further into the ground and creating a crater. When the beetle removed himself from the master of deception, he was knocked completely unconscious.

“Well played, Satoshi. But let’s see you deal with this one!” Alice shouted, throwing out another pokeball.

Out of the ball came a small gremlin, with glowing gems for eyes. The Sableye grinned widely before laughing.

“Let’s go Heracross!” Satoshi shouted. “Hit him with a Megahorn!” 

Heracross flew towards the gremlin,his horn glowing a white light. But as he reached Sableye, he simply fazed through the demon, not leaving a scratch on him. 

“Sableye, use Zen Headbutt.” Alice commanded.

Pivoting on his foot, Sableye charged at the confused beetle and rammed into him, sending him into the air. 

“Recover in the air, then go in for an Aerial Ace!” Satoshi ordered.

“Good luck with that.” Alice smirked.

Heracross rerouted himself and aimed himself at Sableye before accelerating, his wings leaving trails of visible wind in his wake. But just like before, Heracross just fazed through the ever grinning demon, unable to hit him in the slightest. 

“No matter what you do, you won’t be able to do anything to hurt him.” Alice laughed.

“Don’t let up, Heracross! Keep trying everything you can!” Satoshi shouted.

Heracross kept trying everything he could, but none of the attacks that he used would have any effect on the Sableye. 

“Let’s stop toying with them Sableye. Hit him with a Psychic” Alice said. 

Before Heracross could fly back to try another Megahorn, Sableye trust his arms forward, engulfing the beetle in a blue light. Laughing maniacally, Sableye threw Heracross into a nearby tree over and over again. 

“That’s enough, now Will-O-Wisp.” Alice ordered. 

Putting his hands together, Sableye produced a small flame, soon after firing it at the incapacitated beetle. Once it hit, Heracross was engulfed in flames, leaving a burn. 

“Heracross, return.” Satoshi said, returning his crippled beetle to his pokeball so he could battle again later. 

“Giving up already?” Alice smirked. “Might as well, you aren’t going to be able to do anything against my Sableye.” 

“Oh, trust me. I know just how to handle your Sableye.” Satoshi said with a grin. “So let’s go.”

With that, Satoshi threw out his pokeball, but as it opened, the two trainers were greeted with nothing but darkness. 

“What can are you trying to play? Hurry up and send out a pokemon.” Alice said, growing annoyed. 

“Oh, I did. Just be patient.” Satoshi answered.

Seemingly answering Satoshi’s request, the ground underneath Sableye morphed into a pit of acid, into which the gremlin fell into. As fast as he could, Sableye pulled himself out the Toxic, but not fast enough to not get poisoned. As soon as Sableye got out, Haunter floated out of the ground, laughing at the practical joke it just played on the unsuspecting demon.

“Well, well. Seems I was right.” Satoshi grinned. “Never thought I’d ever see a Sableye with that kind of ability.” 

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Alice smirked. “Wonder Guard’s an amazing ability. But it didn’t make too much of a difference, seeing as you were able to see through it so easily. Oh well, might as well take your Haunter down with me. Sableye, Shadow Sneak!” 

“Vanish!” Satoshi ordered.

Before Sableye could even react, Haunter had disappeared, not leaving any trace of existence. 

“Now Confuse Ray!” Satoshi ordered.

From seemingly nowhere, a bright light shown, blazing directly at Sableye, confusing him.

“Damn it, Sableye! Use Faint Attack.” Alice commanded.

Shaking off the confusion, Sableye disappeared, reappearing and swinging at the air, hitting the invisible Haunter, knocking him out of the air. 

“Haunter, just keep stalling, not too much longer now.” Satoshi said confidently. 

As soon as it was said, Sableye fell to his knees, obviously in pain, but willing to continue. 

“Don’t give up, hit him with a Zen Headbutt.” Alice ordered. 

Sableye attempted to comply, but due to his confusion, ended up using the attack on a nearby tree. This, along with the damage from the Toxic, was too much for the Sableye to handle, causing him to faint. 

“I underestimated how smart you were. Your ability to find out the special abilities of my pokemon is incredible.” Alice said.

“All it takes is a bit of observation.” Satoshi grinned. “Not too hard.”

“Well good luck finding this one out.” Alice said, throwing out another pokeball. “Go, Hariyama!”

As soon as Hariyama came out of his pokeball, he took a fighting stance.

“Hariyama, use Foresight!” Alice ordered. 

Once ordered, Hariyama’s eyes glowed red, allowing him to see the hidden Haunter. 

“Haunter, hit him with a Shadow Ball!” Satoshi commanded.

Haunter immediately began charging up a Shadow Ball, unleashing it upon the Hariyama in no time. However when the smoke cleared, Hariyam seemed completely unfazed by the attack. 

“Now Hariyama, hit him with a Close Combat.” Alice shouted.

Hariyama jumped into the air, much higher than anyone would expect from a pokemon his size, and slammed his palm into the top of Haunter’s head, forcing him to plummet into the ground.

“Switch into Heavy Slam!” Alice ordered. 

“Quick! Get out of there!” Satoshi ordered. 

But Satoshi’s order came too late. Before Haunter could get out of the way, Hariyama landed on him, carrying the weight and momentum of a meteor. When Hariyama stood up, Haunter was knocked completely unconscious.

“Well, how do you feel about that?” Alice asked. “Got any ideas from that?”

“Not a clue, but it’s obvious that he has some form of immunity.” Satoshi reasoned.

“If you can’t guess, I’ll give it to you. Right here, right now, it’s time for a true fight.” Alice reasoned. “Heracross vs. Hariyama. Only fighting moves.”

“So it can only be hurt by fighting moves?” Satoshi realized, “Ok, let’s go Heracross!”

Heracross reemerged from his pokeball, looking slightly refreshed from his small rest, but still sporting the burn inflicted on him. 

“Let’s get this started! Hit him with a Close Combat!” Alice commanded. 

“Wait for him!” Satoshi shouted to his crippled beetle. 

When Hariyama made it to Heracross, he immediately went about pounding him with his palms. But despite the abuse, Heracross just stood there and took it. 

“Look for an opening!” Satoshi ordered.

“Don’t give them any, just keep pounding him!” Alice responded. 

Hariyama continued pounding Heracross, trying with all his might to begin to push him back. But as soon as Heracross began to get pushed back, he jumped about 3 feet back, making Hariyama swing at the air and lose his balance. 

“There! Hit him with Revenge!” Satoshi shouted.

With Hariyama stumbling, it was the perfect opportunity for Heracross to strike. Heracross’ fist was engulfed in a blue aura, and was thrown straight into Hariyama’s face, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying back. 

“Don’t let up! Hit him with a Reversal.” Satoshi ordered.

Not wasting a second, Heracross sprouted his wings and flew after the still airborne Hariyama, his horn glowing a bright white. Flying underneath the behemoth, Heracross scooped him into the air, sending him higher into the air. He then proceeded to ram him further and further into the air, slamming him with his horn over and over again. 

“Come back down and prepare!” Satoshi shouted to his pokemon who was slowly getting further away from him and Alice.

With one final hit, Heracross sent Hariyama even further into the air. Afterward, Heracross retracted his wings and began free falling towards the ground. When he was firmly set on the ground, Heracross looked up and reeled his fist back, preparing to slam it into the Hariyama that was quickly making his descent.

“Grrr... God damn it!” Alice shouted. “Heavy Slam!”

“Stand your ground.” Satoshi shouted.

Hariyama, hearing the order, recovered mid air and prepared himself to throw all of his weight onto the already exhausted beetle. But Heracross just stood there, pumping all of his remaining energy into his fist. 

“Swing now!” Satoshi ordered. 

Heracross immediately complied, jumping up and swinging his fist, hitting Hariyama in his face, before jumping back, as to not get hit by the meteor that was the Arm Thrust Pokemon. Hariyama continued his descent before slamming into the ground, forming an incredibly large crater. Nobody even needed to look, they both knew what became of Hariyama. 

“Well, well. Somebody’s impressive until the end. Though I doubt your Heracross will last much longer.” Alice remarked.

“Don’t underestimate my pokemon.” Satoshi smirked. “They’ll last through anything you can throw at them.”

“Is that so?” Alice asked. “Well then let’s put that to the test.”

Giovanni POV

The ring of the buzzer on his desk meant that the moment he was waiting for had finally come.

“Come in.” Giovanni said, pushing the button on his intercom.

“Well, well. If it isn’t my old friend Giovanni.” the man said, walking into the room. 

Very few people were allowed to speak to Giovanni in this way, one of which was an old friend of him, only called on in the most dire of situations. 

“It’s good to see you again.” Giovanni smirked.

“Now I don’t think that this meeting is so that we can drink tea and talk about the good old times, what is it that you wanted?” the man asked.

“Of course. As usual, I have a certain target I want you to get for me.” Giovanni answered.

“Oh, just another elimination mission?” the man complained. “Boring.”

“Not quite.” Giovanni explained. “I need this one alive.” 

“Man, you know alive isn’t my specialty.” The man complained.

“You’ll get double the pay.” Giovanni said.

“Now you’re talking.” the man grinned. “Now where’s that contract?” 

“Right here.” Giovanni said, grabbing some papers from his side of the desk. “And of course, the offer still stands. If you join Team Rocket, you’ll immediately be my right hand man.”

“Offer me the whole team, and you got a deal.” the man chuckled. “You know me, can’t just keep my services to only you.”

“Of course. Just come talk if you change your mind.” Giovanni replied.

“So who’s my target?” the man asked. 

“This is.” Giovanni revealed, giving him a picture.

“This pipsqueak?” the man asked. “This should be no problem at all.”

“Hopefully it shouldn’t.” Giovanni said. “The target will be all alone later today. I’ll expect you to finish in no time at all.”

“You can bet.” The man said, standing up. “I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be expecting you.” Giovanni said with a smirk.


End file.
